in the Game of Love
by KimmyisCool
Summary: More asian ... Stories to read . :


IN THE GAME OF LOVE…

Chapter 1

Kei walked before the building and looked up at its immense height. She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool refreshing air. Then she picked up her two bags and walked into the front door of the building.

"1001, 1002, 1003…" kei then appeared before room 1004. She softly knocked on the door.

The doorknob turned and the door slightly opened. "yes?"

"hi, my name is lim kei. Are u yoo soo yung?"

the girl behind the door smiled. "so you're kei? You're my new roommate? Come in, come in." soo yung opened the door and let kei go into the room.

"yeah, this is your side of the room. You can put your stuff there." Kei placed her bags on the bare bed and looked around. The side that she was on was still bare, while the other side, soo yung's side, was nicely decorated with large posters and pictures.

"so where are u from, kei?" soo yung asked.

"I'm from the california."

"you're chinese, right?"

kei nodded.

"cool. I'm korean, but I know how to write my name in chinese. Wanna see?" soo young went over to her desk and wrote out her name.

"that's a pretty name. Better than mine. It's so plain. Kei."

"no, I like that name." Soo yung took the pen she held and wrote a big K on the paper that she wrote her name on. "nice and simple."

Kei laughed. "I guess u can put it that way."

Soo yung smiled. "hey, it's your first day here. Want me to introduce u to some people on this floor?"

"sure, that'd be great. I need to know people in this dorm sooner or later."

The two girls walked out of the room and down the hall. Soo yung knocked on every door they passed by and introduced kei to everyone.

They reached the last room, and instead of knocking on the door, soo yung just opened the door and walked into the room. Kei followed soo yung into the room. She found that there was a guy sitting at his desk intensely staring at his computer monitor.

"sheesh soo yung. What if I was changing in here or something?" the guy yelled.

"haha, not like there's anything to see anyways, hyesung," soo yung answered him, walking up next to the computer. "get up, I want you to meet someone."

"not now, I'm doing something important," hyesung said without looking up.

"hyesung, what in the heck can u be doing that's more important than meeting my roomie here?" soo yung turned her head to face the monitor. "red alert? Hyesung, you butt. Turn that thing off now! It's getting annoying now."

"no! I'm about to kill the enemies now."

Soo yung reached down behind the computer and pulled out the plug.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" hyesung screamed. "SOO YUNG!"

"I'm glad that I got your attention finally. Now, here's my new roomie."

Hyesung shot soo yung a furious glance and then looked up at kei.

Kei walked up to soo yung. "soo yung, u didn't need to do that. It's not that important for him to meet me now."

"sure it is. Besides, he should stop playing computer games and start actually doing his homework instead of copying from me all the time." Soo yung turned to hyesung. "hyesung, this is kei, my new roomie."

Hyesung, still bitter about soo yung ending his game, mumbled, "hello…"

"see, now that wasn't that bad, was it, my dear hyesung?" soo yung said with a smirk on her face.

"yoo soo yung, I'll get you for this!" hyesung threatened. He then went behind the computer and plugged the computer back in. soo yung laughed and left the room.

Kei looked at hyesung. "hi hyesung. Sorry about the game." And then she followed soo yung out the door.

Chapter 2

"I've known hyesung like forever now. We've known each other since we were in diapers. I just happened to be cursed that he ended up in the same college as me, not to mention living on the same floor as me."

soo yung and kei were walking around neighborhood. Soo yung just finished showing kei where each of kei's classes were.

"hehehe…so you two should to know each other real well," kei said.

Soo yung shrugged. "yeah. I know the back of his hand better than he does himself. That dork tho. Once we came here, all he does now is goof off. He doesn't do his homework, meaning he copies mine. And he's so mean a lot of the times. No wonder no one likes him. He drives all the girls away too."

"really? That's a pity. He's not bad looking. I think he's pretty good looking."

Soo yung busted out laughing. "don't let him hear you say that. He may take it the wrong way and think that he's actually foine."

"huh? Well, mebbe when he's not mad he is."

Soo yung looked at kei. "are you kidding me? anywayz…let's go get something to eat."

"oki." The two girls walked off to a nearby restaurant to get some takeout.

Kei and soo yung entered their room and placed the bags of food on kei's desk. "hold on," soo yung said. "I have to go downstairs for a minute."

Kei nodded, and soo yung left the room. Kei took the take out food from out of the bags and placed it on the desk.

"mmmmmm…food…" a voice said.

Kei looked up at the door and saw hyesung walk in heading towards her…or the food.

"uhhh…hyesung?"

hyesung didn't seem to hear her. "ooh, chinese food. I'm starved!" he reached into the bag.

kei didn't say anything as hyesung pulled out a fried chicken leg and started gnawing on it.

"so," hyesung said in between chomps. "what was your name again?"

"ke…kei…" kei stuttered.

"what? Keikei? Interesting name. Cute." Hyesung continued to eat the chicken leg.

"shin hyesung!" a voice called out from the door. Kei and hyesung looked up and saw soo yung standing in the doorway.

"hello to you too," hyesung said, still eating the chicken leg.

Soo yung stomped over. "excuse you, that was OUR lunch!"

Hyesung looked at soo yung, chewing on the chicken meat in his mouth. "still want it?" he held out the bare chicken leg to her.

Soo yung stared at hyesung disgustedly. "you pig! That was MY chicken leg!"

Hyesung swallowed the last of the meat. "don't worry, you already have two yourself," he said, looking at her legs.

"what!" soo yung cried. Hyesung laughed. "hmmm…on the other hand, you're skinny meat." He then looked at kei's legs. "now you'd have a good meal out of keikei's legs."

Kei's eyes widened.

"shin hyesung, that was so mean! You take that back right now!" soo yung yelled.

Hyesung snickered. "what? What did I say? Anywayz, if I offended you, sorry. No hard feelings, right?" He slapped kei on the back. He looked at both soo yung and keikei. "thanks for the lunch," and he left the room.

"ooooooh," soo yung fumed, heated. "I can just slap that dork now." She looked at kei and saw that kei was staring off into space. "kei, don't listen to him. He's so mean."

Kei's lips wavered a little and looked up at soo yung. "it's oki. I know I'm not the skinniest girl there is."

Soo yung sighed. "ooooh, shin hyesung. I can't believe how mean you can be sometimes."

Kei didn't say anything.

Chapter 3

Hyesung whistled as he walked down the street. He just finished his history class. He turned the corner and all of the sudden, he found himself sprawled backwards on the sidewalk.

"what in the--!" he cried.

"ow!" a girl's voice cried.

Hyesung looked up and saw that he had just bumped into kei. "hey, it's you."

Kei looked up and saw hyesung. She quickly got up to her feet and brushed the dirt off her legs.

"keikei, right?"

kei didn't look up. Instead, she quickly walked past hyesung, not answering him.

"eh? What the heck? Hey you, keikei!" he cried, running after her.

But kei kept walking. Hyesung caught up to her and walked beside her.

"why didn't u answer me? Why did you just walk away?" he asked.

Kei didn't answer.

"was it cuz of last time? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say what I did in a bad way. I just tend to say things before I think."

Kei stopped in her tracks and looked at hyesung. "don't worry," she said, "it's not the first time that I've been called fat." She then turned and continued walking.

"huh? Wait!" hyesung caught up with her again. "I didn't call you fat. I was calling soo yung a toothpick…look, I know that I shouldn't have used you to make fun of soo yung, you're innocent…look, I'm not that bad of a guy…aren't you even gonna listen to me?" kei stopped and faced hyesung. She was about to say something-

"who's going to listen to you?" a voice called out. Hyesung looked up and saw soo yung ahead of him.

"soo yung," he said.

"hello to you too." Soo yung grabbed kei's hand. "come on, let's lose this loser."

"what, loser? What the heck are you talking about, soo yung? Who's the loser around here?"

"you, since you're the only guy that I know of to hurt a girl's feelings the first time you meet her," soo yung barked.

"what, I hurt her feelings? Aww, keikei, I didn't mean to."

"yes you did. It's oki if you try to hurt mine, shin hyesung," soo yung scolded. "but kei's a nice girl, and u just insulted her first time you meet her. I can't believe you can be so mean."

"sigh," hyesung sighed. "what do I have to do to be forgiven?" he looked at kei.

Kei looked up at hyesung, at his begging eyes and pouting mouth.

"nothing! Let's go kei!" soo yung said, urging kei to go. Kei didn't move.

"eh?" soo yung said, puzzled.

Kei walked up to hyesung. "did u really not mean what u said?" kei said to hyesung.

Hyesung scratched his head. "umm, yeah, I didn't mean it."

Kei sighed, and then nodded her head. "don't worry, I'm not mad at you. Just don't do it again."

"really? Hehe, cool."

"ya, kei, let's go." Soo yung pulled kei's arm and they both left.

Hyesung looked at the backs of the two girls. He then let out a huge sigh.

"why did u do that?"

"do what?"

"forgive him. He said a really mean thing about you."

Kei sighed. "soo yung, face it. I know that I'm not slender. Hyesung was just stating a fact. Let's just be glad that I'm not obese or anything."

"but that fool said a real insensitive remark and didn't apologize the first time."

"hehe…at least he did now, right?"

soo yung shook her head. "I don't understand how you can be so forgiving, especially to a guy like him."

Kei smiled. "believe me, I've been through worse stuff than people calling me fat."

"whatever you say. You're not fat. If you want fat, you should see the history professor. Now she needs help from jenny craig."

Kei laughed and then sighed. "don't worry about it. Let's not talk about this."

"man, you're so open minded."

"am I? That's what I've been told all my life."

"you mean you don't know how to stand up for yourself?"

kei shrugged. "I guess that's true."

"wow. That means that you can be taken advantage of then."

"yeah…" kei trailed off. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

Soo yung smiled and threw her arm over kei's shoulder. "don't worry. As long as you're with me, I'll make sure that you won't be taken advantage of by anyone, oki?"

Kei smiled back at soo yung and nodded.

Soo yung laughed. "good. Now let's go to our class before we're late."

Kei smiled and followed soo yung to class.

Chapter 4

The friendship between kei and soo yung grew as time passed. They ate together, sang together, laughed together, did everything together. However, they both were still two different people. soo yung was a more outgoing and carefree person, while kei was quiet and reserved to herself. Though she got along well with soo yung, there were many things about herself that kei did not mention to soo yung. Soo yung acknowledged that fact, but she didn't seem to mind. It was probably the difference in personality that made the two enjoy each other's company.

Kei noticed one thing as she got to know soo yung more…soo yung was definitely a very popular girl, especially to the opposite sex. Many guys would approach her and converse and laugh with her. kei usually stood off to the side as guys came up to soo yung, threw their arms around her shoulders and ask her if she was free that Friday night. Soo yung always turned them down, saying that she already had plans with kei to do something. Soo yung tried many times to introduce kei to the guys, but they never regarded kei more than just 'soo yung's sidekick.' Soo yung was mad when she first heard this, but kei didn't seem to mind too much. She was used to stuff like that. Gradually, soo yung stopped fussing about it, since kei didn't seem to have too much of a reaction.

One day soo yung met up with kei outside of kei's classroom.

"how was psych?" soo yung asked kei.

"oki I guess. We have a midterm this week." Kei stuck out her tongue in sign of contempt for the midterm.

Soo yung laughed. "eww, midterm. I have one next week for history." The two girls started walking.

"how was history just now?"

soo yung shrugged. "history's history." Suddenly a smile and a funny look came upon soo yung's face. Kei looked at soo yung. "what's up with you?"

soo yung looked at kei and smiled. "oh, nothing…"

"nothing?" kei said, smiling.

"well, actually…there's this new guy that transferred into my history class."

Kei eyes lit up. "oh really? A guy that has actually caught the interest of our yoo soo yung here?"

Soo yung playfully pushed kei. "oh kei, stop that, don't tease me here. No really, he's actually really cute. Too bad I didn't get to catch his name?"

"you mean you didn't even talk to him? Or, I mean, he didn't come up to you?"

"oh come on kei. Don't talk about me like I'm a guy magnet or something."

"at least guys are attracted to you…" kei said with a slightly sad tone in her voice.

"aww kei. Don't worry, one day you will find someone that will see your beautiful person."

"hah…beautiful? Whatever. They will see my beautiful friend you mean."

"argh! Kei, this is totally not good for your self-esteem! How are you going to find a guy later on?"

kei shrugged. Soo yung let out a deep sigh.

Kei then smiled and looked at soo yung. "don't worry about me. but anywayz, how does this new guy look?"

A smile immediately spread upon soo yung's face. "well…I only saw the side of his face, but he looked so cute. He has hair up to here," she motioned her hand near her ear, "which is dyed blonde or red, and I couldn't really tell. and that guy's got some mysterious looking eyes. And his mouth puckers up a lil bit. So cute."

"oh my. Looks like we have a winner," kei laughed.

"hey! No teasing! I'm serious!" soo yung cried. The two girls laughed.

Chapter 5

Kei was sitting on her bed, writing in her diary, when there was a knock on her door.

"it's open!" kei shouted. The door open and kei looked up to see who it was. "hyesung?"

"hey, it's you. Is soo yung around?"

"no, she's taking a shower now. You wanted to talk to her?"

"oh, hehehe…" hyesung started to laugh, scratching the back of his neck.

"ohhh, I get it. You need homework from her again."

"man, how'd u guess?"

kei shrugged. She then returned to her diary.

"whatcha doin'?" hyesung walked over and looked over kei's shoulder.

Kei immediately shut her diary. "what do you think you're doing?"

"oh, you're writing in your diary?"

"yeah."

"can I read it."

"no."

"aww, come on. I wanna see."

"no."

"why not?'

"what do you mean why not? It's my diary!"

"so? You're so quiet, I want to know what you think about."

"I'm not THAT quiet…and besides, why would you want to know?"

"because…"

"because what?"

"just because. Come on, one page. Please?"

"you're outta your mind."

"come on keik-"

"get out hyesung!" a voice shouted. Kei and hyesung both looked towards the door. Soo yung was standing in the doorway with a bathrobe on and her hair wrapped up in a towel.

"soo yung, you're done!" hyesung said gleefully.

"yes I am. Now get out of here. Stop harassing kei. And no, I don't have homework for you to copy."

"what? Oh come on soo yung. I really need this assignme-"

"no hyesung. Get out." She walked over and pushed hyesung out the door and slammed the door.

"soo yung! Soo yung!" hyesung's voice cried from the other side of the door along with bangs on the door.

Kei laughed at the scene. Soo yung turned towards kei. "I can't believe that you actually let him into the room."

"not like I had a choice. I'm not as aggressive as you are. I don't know how to deal with guys as well as you do."

"hey, that creature outside the door is NOT by any means a guy. Even those dorks at school are better than that scum that's banging on the door now."

Kei smiled. "especially that mystery guy, right?"

Soo yung smiled. "especially him."

Hyesung sighed. "man, you're so unrighteous and mean, soo yung." He trudged back to his room, only to find an unfamiliar guy standing outside the door. "can I help you?" hyesung asked.

The guy looked up. "are you shin hyesung?"

"yeah, that's me."

the guy smiled and held out his hand. "hi. I'm lee minwoo. I'm your new roommate."

Chapter 6

Kei was packing up her backpack for her next class. Soo yung was about to come back anytime from a class she was presently at. Kei slung her backpack onto her back and left the room.

As she was locking her door, someone hit her from the side and knocked her over.

"oh I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," the person said.

"it's oki, I'm alright," kei said meekly as she brushed the dirt off of her. a hand was offered to her. kei took the hand and the person pulled her up to her feet. She looked up and her eyes widened.

"minwoo?"

"kei?"

they both stared at each other without making any other movement. A wave of emotions swept through kei's heart. Minwoo continued to stare into kei's eyes.

Kei then finally snapped into reality and looked at her watch. "oh no, I'm late!" she then ran to the elevator, which had just opened.

"kei, wait!" minwoo called after her, but she was already gone.

"kei…I can't believe I get to see you again." he remained standing outside of kei's room.

The elevator door opened again and soo yung stepped out of the elevator. She walked towards her room and spotted someone standing outside her room. She walked closer and gasped. "it's him…" she put a big smile on her face and walked up to minwoo. "hi, can I help you?"

Minwoo looked at soo yung. "hi. No, I'm fine. I'm just on my way back to my room."

"ahh. Hi, I'm soo yung. aren't you in my history class? You just transferred yesterday, right?"

minwoo nodded. "I'm minwoo. yeah, I recognize you now."

"you mean you saw me?"

"yeah of course. You're the girl that sits on the other side of the room, right?"

soo yung nodded. "yup. Anyways, you live here? What room are u in?"

"1015."

"oh, is your roomie hyesung?"

"yeah."

"cool. Now hyesung can't brag that he has his own room anymore."

Minwoo laughed. "hehe. I guess I ruined that for him."

"yeah. Hey, let's go to your room. I have to get something from him anywayz."

"oki." They both walked over to room 1015. Minwoo opened the door with his key and they both walked in and found hyesung at his computer again.

"hey hyesung.

"sup man."

soo yung placed her hands on her hips. "red alert again? or is it starcraft this time?"

"gee soo yung," hyesung said without looking up from his computer screen. "you know me so well. "

"I should after knowing your sorry butt for practically my whole life."

Hyesung snorted at the remark. "I see you met minwoo."

"yeah. I'm surprised they put minwoo with suck jerk like you."

hyesung laughed.

Minwoo reached into the mini fridge and pulled out two sodas. "want one?" he asked soo yung, offering one to her. soo yung smiled and shyly accepted the soda. She then looked towards hyesung. "see. Your roomie's so much nicer than you. I've known you for so long, but not once have you ever offered me something to drink or eat."

Hyesung let out a small laugh. "that's cuz before I had Mom to do that for me before."

"hmph." Soo yung opened the can and drank the soda.

Hyesung turned off the game and computer and faced soo yung. "so what do you want?"

"I wanted to borrow your babyface cd."

"I don't have it. I left it at home that last time I went home."

"what? Noo…"

Minwoo reached into a bag and pulled out a babyface cd. "here, you can borrow mine."

Soo yung looked at minwoo in surprise. "are you serious?"

Minwoo nodded. "sure."

Soo yung took the cd in her hands. "thank you."

Hyesung scoffed at the sight of minwoo and soo yung.

Soo yung turned to hyesung. "what are you so mad about? Just because someone else has better people skills than you."

Hyesung raised an eyebrow. "excuse me? I have pretty good people skills, mind you."

Soo yung snickered. "yeah whatever. That's why you sit here all the time playing on your computer. That's real good social skills…with your computer."

Hyesung hmphed.

Soo yung turned back to minwoo with a smile on her face. "thanks for the CD. I'll get it back to you as soon as possible."

"no hurry."

"bye minwoo. Bye loser." Soo yung left the room.

Hyesung rolled his eyes. Minwoo laughed. He went and shut the door. "so you guys knew each other for hecka long, huh?"

"unfortunately, yes."

"hehehe…nice girl tho."

"whatever…I don't know what's so good about her. she's nothing special…yet all the guys in school are after her."

"oh really?"

"yeah. I don't understand it."

"well, she's pretty."

"that's about it for her."

minwoo laughed. "just cuz you've known her for so long."

"why, you like her or something?"

minwoo shrugged. "can't say much now. Too early."

"ahhh…not a love at first sight guy?"

"no, I am. But you're not really trying to give me a good impression of her now, are ya?" minwoo smiled.

Hyesung rolled his eyes. "be my guest buddy."

Minwoo laughed at his roommate.

Chapter 7

A little later that day…

Kei let herself into her room, finding soo yung inside reading a magazine. "hey soo yung."

"kei, you're back!" soo yung started to frantically wave her hands, motioning kei to her. kei placed her backpack onto her desk, walked over to soo yung's bed and sat down. "what's up?"

"it's that guy."

"what guy?"

"that guy from my history class."

"ooohhh him." A smile spread across kei's face. "but wait. You didn't have history today."

"no, but I still saw him. In fact, he lives in this dorm!" soo yung happily.

"really?"

"better yet, he lives on this floor! In fact, he's hyesung's roomie!"

"whoa, you for real?"

"I am for real!" soo yung then sat back and sighed dreamily.

"cool. Did you finally find out his name?"

"oh!" soo yung shot back up. "his name is-"

"hello!" a voice shouted from outside the door.

Both girls' heads turned towards the door. "hyesung?" soo yung said. She got up and opened the door. Hyesung and minwoo were standing outside the door.

"hi you guys!" soo yung greeted, only staring at minwoo.

"hey soo yung," hyesung said. "I need to borrow some shampoo."

"oh gosh hyesung, go buy your own."

"but it's so expensive!"

"shampoo won't exactly burn a whole in your pocket."

"yeah yeah yeah. anywayz, you have any to spare?"

"sigh…fine. Come on in." soo yung opened the door and let the two guys in.

"hey keikei!" hyesung called out gleefully.

Kei looked up and smiled a little at hyesung. "hi," she softly said.

Soo yung ran up to kei and pulled at her arm. "come here, come meet hyesung's roomie." Soo yung pulled kei up from her bed and over to hyesung and minwoo. "kei, this is minwoo."

Kei's head shot up and stared at minwoo with wide eyes. Minwoo looked back at her with similar surprised eyes. "kei…"

"you guys know each other?" soo yung asked.

Kei cleared her throat and let out a small smile. "no, we don't." she stuck out her hand. "nice to meet you, minwoo."

Minwoo looked at kei's hand and took into his hand. "nice to meet you."

Soo yung smiled. She reached for her shampoo and handed it to hyesung. "here you go loser. And don't use too much."

"don't worry I will."

Soo yung glared at hyesung. "don't you dare…"

"try me."

kei looked at the two fighting people. "come on you guys. Can you guys go through one day without fighting?"

soo yung snatched her shampoo bottle out of hyesung's hand. "fine. I don't have to lend you my shampoo."

"aiya. Oki oki, I'll just use a little bit. Sheesh. Touchy touchy."

"hmph." Soo yung handed the bottle back to hyesung. "hurry up with it too."

"thanks. I'll be back. you going back to the room, minwoo?" hyesung asked.

"i…"

"wait minwoo," soo yung interrupted. "I need some help on the history homework. Mebbe you can help."

Minwoo smiled. "sure."

Hyesung rolled his eyes. "oki loverboy. You can chill with the girls then." With that, hyesung left the room to shower.

Soo yung pulled minwoo over to her desk and they started working on her history homework. Figuring that the two would ignore her presence as what usually happened, Kei sat on her bed and pulled out her diary and started furiously writing in it. Kei didn't notice the occasional glances that minwoo shot over to where kei was.

"I'm hungry. Want to go eat dinner now?" soo yung suggested. Minwoo nodded. "yeah, I'm a little hungry myself." Soo yung smiled and turned to kei. "hey kei, let's go eat dinner now."

Kei looked up from her diary. "no, I'm not hungry. You two go."

"you sure?"

kei nodded and returned to her diary.

"you're really not coming?" minwoo asked. Kei ignored him.

Soo yung frowned. She never liked it when kei became anti-social, but she knew not to mess with kei when kei did pull away from people. "oki then. Let's go minwoo."

Minwoo looked at kei. Kei felt his eyes on her but didn't look up. Minwoo then followed soo yung out the door and kei was now alone in the room. It was then that tears started coming out of her eyes. After a few moments, she reached up and wiped them out of her eyes. "no. I vowed to never cry again because of it. Never again." she picked up her pen and continued writing.

Minutes later, there was a knock at the door. "it's open," kei shouted. The door opened and hyesung peeked in. his hair was wet from his shower, and bangs hung over his eyes. "where are those two?" he asked.

"they went downstairs to eat."

"why aren't you with them?" hyesung walked into the room and placed the shampoo on soo yung's desk.

"I'm not hungry."

Hyesung walked over to kei's bed. "you mean you don't want to be the middle person there."

Kei looked up at hyesung. "huh?"

"you know it's obvious that they both like each other."

"really?" kei said without expression. She returned to her diary.

Hyesung looked at kei, curiosity playing in his eyes. He started to inch closer and closer to kei, trying to peer over her shoulder in her diary. Kei sensed it and slammed her diary shut.

"aww keikei."

"sorry hyesung. Not for your eyes."

Hyesung sighed. "fine then, be that way. Like I care about what's in that book of yours. I'm going back to my room." He left the room. Kei looked up at the door as hyesung shut the door behind him. She looked back into her diary at the last sentence she just wrote:

Even hyesung's nosiness and mean comments can't keep me from my thinking about the past now…about minwoo…

Chapter 8

"hey soo yung, I'm thinking of taking minwoo to the karaoke bar. You gonna come?" hyesung peered into the girls' room and asked.

Soo yung looked up at hyesung with twinkling eyes. "yeah! Oh, I haven't been there for a long time!"

"great. Lemme go fetch minwoo. I'll be back." Hyesung left for his room.

soo yung turned to kei. "kei, come on kei, come with us!" soo yung invited, attempting to get kei to join them.

Kei looked up from her computer. "um, no, I think I'll pass. I have to finish this paper."

"kei, that paper is due next Tuesday. It's Friday. Let's go have some fun."

"no really. I don't really want to go. I want to finish this paper."

Soo yung looked at her sadly. "Why don't you want to go? I know it's not cuz of the paper."

"I just don't feel like singing."

"but you love singing. I know you do. We're just going with hyesung and minwoo this time."

"well…it's, um, cuz I, uh, I don't like hyesung."

"what? You don't like hyesung?"

"yeah…he bugs me all the time and tries to read my diary all the time and I can't stand being around him."

"really?"

Kei nodded and waved soo yung off. "you go have fun oki?"

Soo yung looked at kei one last time and grabbed her bag and headed out the door. When soo yung was out of the room, kei let out a sigh of relief. Good, I didn't have to tell her the truth, she thought to herself.

Soo yung met up with minwoo and hyesung.

"hey, ready to go? Um, where's kei?" minwoo asked.

"she, um, didn't want to come," soo yung said sadly.

Minwoo gave a sad frown. "that's, um, too bad."

"sigh. That's just like her, being by herself. No fun. come on you two. Let's go," hyesung said and lightly pushed them out the dorms.

Are you avoiding me, kei? Is that why?

"'she's only one keudae cha jee ha go shipuh, kkeut kka jee po gee nan moht hae

My darlin' she's only one! Nae een saeng ggeut ga jee, oh! nae yuh ja ro man deul gessuh OH!'" hyesung sang loud and clear as shinhwa's 'only one' came to an end on the screen.

Minwoo and soo yung clapped loudly for hyesung. "that was great hyesung. You shoulda followed that dream you had a long time ago to become a singer," soo yung said.

Hyesung laughed. "that'll be my backup if I don't graduate college."

"I'm pretty sure you will," minwoo said. "of course at the rate you're going, it may take decades until you graduate. Yeah, you'll make a great singer when you're 30 or 40 years old." Minwoo and soo yung laughed.

"haha, very funny minwoo. Not like you can sing any better."

"wanna make a bet? I bet I can dance better than you too."

Hyesung eyed minwoo. "ooh, is that a challenge?"

Soo yung came between the two guys laughing. "hahaha, you guys. Let's not get all feisty now." She shook her head, smiling to herself.

Hyesung ran his hand through his hair. "you're right. We shouldn't be a buncha nasty girls here. I'm gonna get some drinks for us." He then left the room. soo yung and minwoo laughed. "he can be such a character," minwoo commented.

Soo yung nodded. "yeah…I guess that's why I've been friends with him for so long. It's too bad that kei never sees this side of hyesung."

"huh? What do you mean?" minwoo asked.

"well, kei didn't come cuz, well, she said that cuz she didn't want to be around hyesung. She says that he annoys her, which is true, he does."

"I see…" minwoo said. "he does act kinda mean and resentful sometimes."

"he never used to be that way…" soo yung said. "not until…" she stared at her hands.

"until when?"

"uh, nothing." Soo yung looked back up at minwoo. "I guess once he hit college, he took on a different attitude towards things. That's why he's changed a little."

"I see. Well, we all change."

"yeah, that's true."

Silence. Minwoo started to softly sing the 'only one' song which was still stuck in his head.

"hehehe…so you got a girl in mind, like how it is in the song?" soo yung playfully asked.

Minwoo smiled towards soo yung. "you know, I think I do."

"oh really? So who is it? Is it someone I know?"

minwoo looked away still smiling. "I think you know her…"

"oooh oooh, I wanna know."

"nah. I can't tell."

"sure you can," soo yung pried. Her heart rate started to accelerate.

Minwoo shook his head. A somewhat more contemplative look came upon his face. "I don't know for sure…I've only gotten here and I just met this real nice girl. I think I like her, but I don't want to move too fast or anything. Just take things slow, especially since other matters come into play…"

"huh? What do you mean other matters come into play? Like what?"

"oh nothing…" minwoo trailed off.

"hey guys I'm back," hyesung announced as he walked into the room with 3 glasses of colored drinks. He placed them onto the table and sat down. "so, who's next for singing?"

"I'm back," soo yung said as she walked into the room.

kei looked up from her diary. "hi soo yung. Have fun?"

"yeah. You should have been there. Minwoo and hyesung sing real well."

"I see. Then I wouldn't have fit in since I can't sing too well."

"yes you can."

"no I can't."

"anywayz…finish your paper?"

"yup."

"good, since you passed on a good night out with us to do that paper."

"I didn't feel like singing anywayz."

"kei, I know that's not true. You love singing."

"well, I just wasn't in the singing mood tonight." Kei looked away.

Soo yung walked over to kei's bed and sat down next to kei. "is there something wrong kei?"

Kei looked up at soo yung. "nothing's wrong."

"you must be hiding something from me. You never usually let hyesung get to you like that."

"um…no, but, yeah…it's getting really bad now. He's, uh, really annoying me now."

"sigh. Kei, I know that hyesung can be a punk sometimes, but he's really not that bad."

"I know," kei said softly, her voice drifting off.

"then why don't you give him a chance? You'll see that he can be oki sometimes."

"fine fine. If it really means that much to you."

Soo yung smiled. "good. So the next time we go somewhere, you're coming with us."

Kei's face shot up. "uhhhh…but…"

"no buts. You're gonna get out of this room once in a while. You can't stay cooped up in here all the time."

Sigh. I guess there's no way in avoiding it, kei thought to herself. "oki oki. The next time you guys go somewhere, I'll go too. Just don't blame me if I'm the party pooper."

Soo yung smiled. "don't worry, you won't be. Oh that's right, we're gonna go watch the movies tomorrow. You're coming with us. I don't care if you have any other plans tomorrow. You promised you'd come, so you're coming with us even if your life depended on it. Oki?"

Kei rolled her eyes and shook her head. "oki oki."

"great!" now I'm gonna sleep. I'm so tired." Soo yung and turned to her side of the room.

kei stared before her, not knowing what to think. I dunno if I can handle this…I don't think I can

chapter 9

"hey you guys! Over here!"

hyesung waved to kei and soo yung. The girls spotted hyesung and minwoo and walked over to them.

"hey you guys. Get the tickets yet?"

hyesung held up four tickets. "yup. Let's go in."

the four walked into the theater. "hey, who buys the popcorn or soda?" hyesung asked.

Soo yung smiled. "let's see. How about this." She directed her attention to a door. "if the next person that comes out that door is a guy, you guys have to buy the refreshments."

Hyesung grinned. "and if the next person that comes out that door is a foine chick, you girls have to buy."

"deal."

Minwoo laughed. Kei just smiled. Four pairs of eyes stared at the door, waiting to see who would be the one to determine the winner. Suddenly, the door opened. All four people's eyes went wide and laughter roared through the theaters.

"I win! You guys have to buy!" hyesung cried.

"hyesung, for crying out loud, that's a four year old girl! She's not a foine chick!" soo yung cried.

"still a girl. Besides, that's a CUTE four year old for your information. Come on minwoo. Let's go find some seats. Bring our sodas and popcorn to us girls. Lots of butter on mine." Hyesung walked into the theater. Minwoo smiled at soo yung and kei and walked in after hyesung.

"aww, that's not fair. Sigh."

The two girls went and bought two tubs of popcorn and two sodas and walked into the movie theater. The theater was swarming with people.

"my gosh, there are so many people here tonight," soo yung said.

"yeah there are," kei agreed.

"I wonder where the guys are."

"hey you guys! Over here!" soo yung and kei found hyesung waving at them. He then scooted down the aisle past the people and approached the girls. "hey. There wasn't anywhere with 4 free seats so we're going to split up."

"where's minwoo?" soo yung asked.

"he's up like 3 rows." Hyesung had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. All of the sudden, he snatched a bag of popcorn out of kei's hands and rushed back down the aisle. "ha-ha! Victory is mine!"

"what the? Oh gosh…hyesung, I swear," soo yung said, shaking her head. She then looked up at kei. "well, I'll guess we'll split. Um, I guess I'll go sit with hyesung since you probably don't wanna…"

"no wait, I'll sit with hyesung," kei said quickly. Soo yung looked at kei, surprised at kei's reaction. "um," kei said, "I mean, um, if hyesung's really an oki guy, then I shouldn't be afraid of sitting next to him, right? And besides, I know that you want to sit with minwoo and everything…"

soo yung's eyes lightened up. "um, are you sure kei?"

kei nodded. "yeah. You go sit with minwoo. I'll go steal my bag of popcorn back. Um, good luck soo yung."

Soo yung smiled at kei. "thanks. You're a pal." Soo yung walked down 3 aisles and sat down next to minwoo. Kei heaved a big sigh and walked over to where hyesung was.

Hyesung looked up. "it's about time that you came. I'm getting thirsty from all this popcorn. There's not enough butter." He reached up and grabbed the soda out of kei's hand. Kei didn't say anything and sat down next to hyesung. This is going to be a looong nite, kei thought to herself.

"hey minwoo," soo yung said as she sat down next to minwoo.

Minwoo looked up. "oh hey. So you're gonna be sitting with me tonight? Then that means that kei must be sitting with…"

"yeah. Funny, she was the one that insisted to sit next to hyesung too. Said that she's going to give him a chance to be a nice guy."

"I see."

That's not even all of it, soo yung thought to herself as she thought of the other reason why kei was letting soo yung sit next to minwoo. She offered minwoo the soda and popcorn.

"personally, I'm glad that I'm not sitting next to hyesung either. He can be so loud in the movies."

"uh oh. I feel sorry for kei now."

"yeah. I should feel guilty too, but, haha, I don't."

"that's evil," minwoo smiled.

Soo yung smiled back. "oh the movie's starting," she said and faced forward to the screen.

"I guess you'd be the ideal person for the movie theaters since you're so quiet," hyesung said as the previews started to show.

"I'm not as quiet as you claim me to be," kei said after a slight hesitation.

"sure sure. You're not exactly miss loud if I'm correct."

"that's cuz you're around."

"ahhh, you can reply back. It's an improvement."

Silence. The movie began. Hyesung ate the popcorn and drank the soda.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! SLLLLLLURRRRPP! SLLLLLLURRRRRRPPPP!

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" people around hyesung and kei angrily hissed. Hyesung gave an 'oh well' look and kei sank lower into her seat. A loooong nite…

"that was hyesung."

"that was hyesung? That was HECKA loud."

"yeah, that would be hyesung.'

"hehehe."

"it's cold in here," soo yung said rubbing her bare arms.

"you're cold? Here," minwoo said, taking off his sweater. He then covered soo yung with it. Soo yung's eyes widened and then she smiled. "um, thanks," she cooed. Minwoo smiled back at her. soo yung looked back at the screen, her heart starting to flutter and pound.

"SNORE! SNORE! SNORE!"

oh gosh, he's sleeping, kei thought to herself. he's even louder when he sleeps…

throughout the movie, soo yung tried to inconspicuously scoot closer to minwoo. She shifted in her seat and relaxed in a position where she was slightly touching his arm with hers. She smiled to herself. She was satisfied with just the mere touch of his arm against hers…

"psst. Excuse me miss. Can you please wake your boyfriend up so he would stop snoring?" a voice behind kei said. Kei exhaled a frustrated breath and shook hyesung.

"hyesung, wake up. wake up hyesung."

Hyesung didn't wake up. Instead he grabbed onto kei's arm and snuggled up closer to kei. Kei was shocked and tried to pull her arm free, but couldn't nudge him off. Sigh. At least he stopped snoring…

Soo yung reached for some popcorn. As she reached into the pail, minwoo was also getting some popcorn and their hands brush against each other. Soo yung instinctively jerked her hand out of the pail. She smiled sheepishly at minwoo, while he returned the smile with his own slim smile. She turned back towards the screen. Good thing he can't see me blush right now…she thought to herself.

Oh man…I feel my shirt getting wet…oh gosh he's drooling…

The movie ended and people got up from their seats and walked out of the theater. Soo yung and minwoo walked towards the back of the theater where hyesung and kei were supposed to be. Soo yung and minwoo stopped in their tracks. "whoa, what's going on here?" hyesung's head was still on kei's shoulder. Kei looked up at soo yung with a slightly frantic look that said, help. Soo yung laughed and walked over to kei and hyesung. She raised her hand.

WHACK!

"OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"you finally woke up, shin hyesung," soo yung said.

"geez soo yung! Did you have to hit me THAT hard!" hyesung yelled back.

"that's the only way to way you up you dodo-head. Let's go, the movie's over." Soo yung walked back out of the aisle and out of the theater with minwoo. Kei and hyesang got up and walked out too, hyesung mumbling and grumbling as he exited.

"so where to now?" soo yung asked.

"I dunno. I'm hungry tho," hyesung said.

"I am too. Let's go get something to eat."

"oki," soo yung agreed.

"count me out. I'm tired. I'm gonna go back to the dorms," kei said.

"what? Kei, but you promised—"

"no, I'm really tired now. And I have a class tomorrow at 8. I really should get back and go get some sleep. I'll see you guys later." She then left.

"good going hyesung. You just scared her away!" soo yung said.

"well not my fault the movie was boring."

"gosh hyesung, you left a drool stain the size of china on her shirt."

"hehehehe…oops."

"let's go eat now. Come on minwoo." Soo yung's hand grabbed minwoo's arm and she pulled him down the street. The three stopped at the corner of a street when soo yung realized that she was holding onto minwoo's arm. "oops, sorry." She let go of his arm and looked away, blushing.

Minwoo saw her blush. She looks so cute, he thought to himself. I really want to…but I dunno if I should. I don't want it to happen again…I don't want to hurt you again…you left because I hurt you…and now that I see you again, I don't want to hurt you again…

Chapter 10

A month passed and soo yung hung out with hyesung and minwoo more often. She got to know minwoo more and more, and the more she discovered about him, the more her feelings developed for him. However, she also became disappointed because minwoo seemed to respond to her positively, but he didn't seem to make a move. Something seemed to be holding him back…

"kei…can I talk to you for a minute?" soo yung asked. They were in their room and soo yung couldn't concentrate on her chem homework.

"yeah what's up?" kei looked up from her calculus homework.

"do you think minwoo doesn't like me?"

kei didn't answer at first. She just stared at soo yung with no apparent expression on her face.

"huh kei? What do you think?

"um, I don't know. What makes you think that he doesn't like you?"

"I don't know. I mean, we get along fine and everything. And it seems that he may like me and everything. I get that feeling from him and everything, you know? We'll joke around and play with each other and it'll feel like we're actually going out and everything, right? But the problem is…"

"is…"

"…is that we're not going out! Gosh kei, I don't know, but even though it seems like he likes me, sometimes he'll just turn around and seem like he doesn't like me. like he's holding back. And I don't know if I should say anything. It's so frustrating. I want to be with him, but then I don't want to seem like I'm pushing and rushing or anything you know? Gosh…and I heard that he already liked a girl too…"

"he does?"

"yeah…when we went singing that one time he told me that he met a nice girl that he liked."

"really?"

"yeah. When he said that, I couldn't help but hope that the girl he was talking about was me. but then he said that he didn't want to move too fast and other matters came into play and something like that…"

"he said that?

"yeah, which makes totally no sense to me. ahhh, kei. What am I supposed to do? This is such a headache."

Kei patted soo yung on the shoulder. "don't worry. Everything will be oki."

Other matters came into play? Are you talking about…

There she is, he thought to himself. I always look forward to seeing her beautiful face everyday…I long to stroke it, that soft pale skin of hers…yet, I don't know if I can…

"hey soo yung," minwoo said.

Soo yung looked up from her book and saw minwoo standing before her.

"hi minwoo," soo yung said, at first with a twinkle in her eyes. The twinkle then disappeared and soo yung's eyes were indifferent.

"mind if I sit here?" minwoo asked, the usual routine. He would ask, and then soo yung would say of course.

"umm…if you want I guess," soo yung said with a cold tone in her voice. That threw minwoo off guard. He wasn't accustomed to soo yung being indifferent to him. Did I do something wrong?

He sat down next to soo yung and looked at her. she didn't look back at him. Minwoo worried. What did I do wrong? I don't like seeing her like this…

throughout class, instead of talking to minwoo like she used to, soo yung ignored minwoo. Now minwoo was confused.

Class ended and all the students packed up their stuff and left the hall. Soo yung gathered her notes together and stuffed them into her bag. Minwoo looked at soo yung. "um soo yung? You want to go out for some coffee now or something?"

Soo yung looked at minwoo. "um, I'd really like to, but I think I better get back. I have a lot of work to do." And with that, soo yung left the hall without waiting for an answer from minwoo. Minwoo was left standing there alone in the hall. What just happened there? He thought to himself.

"kei…" soo yung said as she strode into the room. She dropped her bag next to her bed and swiftly walked over to kei's bed and laid her head on kei's bed next to where kei was sitting.

"sigh. What's wrong soo yung?" kei asked.

"kei. I don't know what to do." Soo yung then explained what happened in history class with her and minwoo. "I dunno. I didn't mean to ignore him or anything, but I couldn't help it. I dunno why I'm doing this. I guess I'm just trying to prepare myself, just in case he really doesn't like me like I hope. If he doesn't, then I won't be so heartbroken or something. But I'm already a mess."

Kei sighed. She looked up at the ceiling. I guess I'll have to do this. I didn't do it before, and now's my chance to do what I should have done 2 years ago.

Minwoo walked up to his room. He knew that hyesung wasn't back yet from his classes, so he had the room to himself for a couple hours. Good, minwoo thought to himself. I need some peace and quiet for myself anywayz. Minwoo walked up to his room when he saw something taped onto his door. He reached up and pulled the envelope off of the door. He opened it and pulled out the letter inside.

Minwoo

A girl's heart is confused and torn. Her feelings for you are real…are yours? One minute you seem to care for soo yung, the next minute you don't. tell her your feelings. This is the favor that I owe an old friend that I never did. Now I'm doing it for a present friend. Please straighten things out with soo yung. She is distraught.

minwoo looked up from the letter. "an old friend…"

"I'm gonna shower now," kei said. She took her pj's, a towel, and her basket of toiletries and left the room.

Soo yung returned to her history homework but she couldn't concentrate, especially since it was history homework.

A moment later there was a knock on the door. "it's open," soo yung called out. The door opened and the person came into the room and came up behind soo yung.

"soo yung."

Soo yung looked up and stood up with widened eyes. "minwoo…"

Suddenly minwoo grabbed soo yung and pulled her abruptly into a fierce hug. Soo yung was shocked.

"soo yung, I'm sorry," minwoo said.

"minwoo…sorry for what?"

"I know that I've been giving mixed signals to you all this time. The truth is, the girl that I like is you."

soo yung's eyes widened even more.

"and before I was afraid of getting into a relationship because of some other matters in my life. But now I know that all that matters is that I like you and I won't let you go. Soo yung…will you…?"

soo yung didn't wait for minwoo to finish and nodded. "yes minwoo. I will." She then hugged him back.

Outside the door, a pair of eyes was watching the new couple. Sigh, it was bound to happen…I'm just not lucky enough to be hers…

Chapter 11

After that night, soo yung and minwoo were inseparable. They spent more time with each other and indulged in each other. Hyesung acted as if he didn't care. Kei saw less and less of soo yung…she tried to avoid both soo yung and minwoo as much as she could.

Soo yung and minwoo were walking hand in hand with each other back to the dorm from a date. Soo yung had a sad look on her face.

"what's wrong soo yung?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung looked up in front of her while she walked. "I don't know…I feel bad for kei."

"oh…it's kei," minwoo said, looking away.

"I mean, she's my best friend, yet I feel like I'm cheating her."

"by spending time with me?"

"sort of. But then that's not it. I mean, you know that I try to spend more time with her. but she won't budge. And it's really bugging me. it really hurts that I've hurt her. she's always been so shy with people. and I feel like I've ditched her."

minwoo stopped walked and held soo yung's shoulders. "soo yung, you did not ditch kei. Kei may just want some time to herself. Besides, she's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"but I feel like I bailed out on her."

"oki. You want to call off tomorrow's date so you can spend some time with her?"

"is that oki with you?"

minwoo smiled. "yes, it's fine with me. as long as you're happy."

Soo yung smiled. They continued walking again. "if only kei wasn't trying to avoid me."

Minwoo sighed. "yeah, that can be a problem." They both sighed as they reached the dorm.

Kei was walking home from her night class and was shopping for some necessities on the way. She had a bag of stuff that she just bought from a drugstore. She was walking down the street when she stopped before a body shop. "hmmm…I need to pick up some stuff." She walked into the shop and picked out a few items…body wash, lotion, lip balm. She walked towards the checkout when she spotted something that made her stop in her tracks. "shampoo…"

Soo yung looked up from her book. Kei was letting herself back into the room. "kei," soo yung said.

"oh hey soo yung," kei said back. She locked the door behind her and walked over to her bed, placing her various shopping bags on the bed.

"went shopping?" soo yung said.

"yeah…just went to get some stuff I needed." Kei started pulling stuff out of the bags: batteries, razors, towels, a bottle of body wash, and a bottle of shampoo.

"I see." Soo yung got up from her bed and walked over to kei's bed. "hey kei."

"yeah?"

"I'm real sorry for not spending as much time with you lately."

Kei looked up at so yung. "it's oki. It's understandable. You naturally want to spend more time with minwoo. It's oki."

"no it's not. Now I said that I would protect you, right?"

kei let out a small laugh. "yeah, whatever."

Soo yung smiled. "and friends don't bail out on friends, right? So…we're gonna go out tomorrow, you and me."

"huh? I thought that you were gonna go out with minwoo tomorrow."

"not when I'm with my 'K' friend."

Kei smiled. "I guess."

Soo yung smiled back. "I'm so glad to see you smile again." Soo yung gave kei a hug. "now I have to finish this book for tomorrow. Ahh!" she returned to her book. Kei shook her head and laughed at her friend. "I'm gonna go take a shower now." She took out her pj's, her basket of toiletries, a new towel, and the new bottles of body wash and shampoo and left the room. But instead of heading to the bathroom, she walked down the hall and knocked on hyesung's door.

Hyesung answered the door. "whoa, key keikei. What're you doing here?"

"oh nothing. I was about to go shower. But I wanted to get this to you." She handed him the bottle of shampoo.

Hyesung looked at her in surprise. "this is for me?"

kei nodded.

Hyesung laughed and scratched his head. "did soo yung buy me shampoo so I would stop mooching off of her or something?"

after a slight hesitation, kei softly answered, "um…yeah. So now you have your own bottle of shampoo."

Hyesung laughed. "hahaha. Mmm, this smells good. Tell her thanks for me."

"sure. Anywayz, I have to go now. Bye." Hyesung waved and closed the door. Kei walked down the hall with her head hung low.

Chapter 12

The next day…

"hey kei. How about we both dress up tonight and go to a club?"

"a club? Uhh, are you sure?"

"of course. It'll be fun."

"umm…I dun think minwoo would—"

"well…what minwoo doesn't know won't hurt," soo yung joked, smiling. Kei looked at her. soo yung laughed. "I'm just kidding. Besides, I'm not there to pick up on guys. I just want to dance!" she danced around the room.

Kei laughed at her roommate's silliness. "but I don't have anything nice to wear."

Soo yung rummaged through her closet. "here, wear this." She threw some clothes at kei, and kei reluctantly put them on. She put on a black tank top and a sheer see-through top over it. She wore some blazing red flare pants and matching black boots. Soo yung crimped kei's hair and did her makeup. "there. You look fab now."

"not as hot as you laydee," kei laughed. Soo yung was wearing a red spaghetti strap one piece dress and some knee high black leather boots.

Soo yung joined in the laughter. "so we both look hot. Let's go." They linked arms and left the dorm together and headed towards the club.

"wow it's packed tonight."

The music blasted into their faces and the colored lights hit their eyes as they entered the club. People were all over the place: sitting at the bar, playing around at the tables, and dancing on the floor.

"Let's go find somewhere to sit first," soo yung suggested. They found an empty table and sat down. They ordered drinks and just drank and talked for little bit. Kei stared at the dancing people on the floor.

The song changed. "Ooh, I love this song. Let's dance!" soo yung cried.

"umm…" kei stalled.

"come on. Don't tell me you don't know how to dance."

"no it's not that…"

"don't tell me you won't dance."

"well…not, not really…"

"then come on!" soo yung grabbed kei's arm and pulled her onto the dance floor. Soo yung then started dancing to the music while kei just stood there.

It's been so long, kei thought to herself. I don't know if I should…

Eventually, kei couldn't take it anymore. It was too hard to just stand there and resist against her body's desire to move. She started moving to the beat also. Soon enough, she was dancing her heart out, as if she was letting out all her emotions and stress through her moves. Soo yung was surprised.

"wow, you're good!" soo yung complimented.

"what?" kei cried over the loud music, not hearing soo yung.

"I said you're good!" soo yung repeated.

"I can't hear you!"

"she said you're good," a low voice whispered into her ear. Kei stiffened as she felt an arm slide around her waist and a body come up from behind her. she felt the body behind her moving simultaneously with hers to the beat. Kei saw the surprised look on soo yung's face. Kei tried to turn around to see who the intruder was, but the stranger stayed behind her and kei couldn't see who it was. She then saw a big grin on soo yung's face and soo yung continued dancing. A few seconds later, soo yung became lost in the crowd of dancing people.

"just dance," the voice whispered into her ear.

Kei was confused and didn't know she could do…except keep dancing. Kei slowly gave into the dancing and she and the mysterious person swayed to the beat together, the guy's arm remaining around her waist. Despite the heat and sweat in the club, kei could smell the aftershave of the person behind her. she closed her eyes and breathed in. he smells good, she thought to herself. She lost herself in the music and the stimulating smell. This all feels so familiar…

The music got faster and kei and her partner danced faster. Kei wanted to get out of the person's grasp, but he kept his arm clamped on her waist. Kei this time did not give in. she began pulling at his arm but he was too strong. She squirmed and turned but she couldn't get out of the person's grip. Kei frantically scanned the room. Where's soo yung?

She finally spotted soo yung dancing with another person. When the person's face came into view, kei's own eyes widened. "isn't that…hyesung? Soo yung!" kei cried out.

Soo yung's head turned and spotted kei. She smiled and made her way through the crowd, the other person following her. sure enough, it was hyesung.

"hey kei, having fun?" soo yung said, smiling at kei.

"what are you talking about? How can you ask me that? I can't get…LET GO!" kei cried. She struggled with the clamped arm again. kei then heard soo yung laughing. Kei looked up.

"what's so funny?" kei demanded.

"I thought you enjoyed dancing with my boyfriend, kei. You two dance together real well."

kei's eyes bulged. "what!" She pulled at the arm again, which finally gave way, and whirled around. She found minwoo smiling at her.

"minwoo!"

"hey kei."

"it was you!"

minwoo just smiled. Kei continued to stare at him.

Soo yung spoke up. "now it's my turn to dance with my boyfriend." She pulled minwoo onto the dance floor and wrapped her arms around him. Hyesung was left standing with kei.

"you look freaked out. Wanna go sit?" he asked.

Kei didn't say anything, but she followed hyesung to her table. Hyesung ordered some drinks for the both of them. The waiter left the table to go get the drinks.

"are you oki?" hyesung asked, waving his hand in front of kei's face. "it wasn't that bad was it? You two looked like you guys were having fun."

Kei looked at hyesung. "you guys came here today?"

"well yeah. You did too. Hey, I never woulda thought that you could dance like that. You're so distant from everyone, it's so hard to believe."

Kei shrugged. "I u…use…used to love dancing…"

"used to? Looks like you still do." The drinks arrived and hyesung took a swig of his drink.

"umm…not really…" kei began to stare off into space.

Hyesung looked at kei. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "hey!"

Kei jumped in her seat. "what?"

"dude, how can you dance like you just did 10 minutes ago, yet still be able to be so quiet and boring?"

kei didn't say anything. She ignored hyesung's insult and turned her gaze towards the dance floor. She spotted minwoo and soo yung, dancing in each other's arms.

Hyesung looked at kei. As he drank his second bottle, he was starting to feel a little lightheaded from the liquor. "hey talk to me." he didn't get a response from kei. Hyesung's eyes traveled up to her eyes. They were unusually bigger and rounder than kei's usual sleepy eyes. "you know," he started to say again, "hahaha…I never really noticed before, but hehehe you actually have pretty eyes."

Kei crinkled her nose. "you're drunk hyesung."

Hyesung laughed again. he then followed her gaze. "oh no…don't tell me you like minwoo too…"

Kei turned to hyesung. "I do NOT like minwoo! And I never will!" she abruptly stood up from her seat and started walking away.

"sheesh…she on PMS or something?" he downed his drink. He then got up from his seat. "I need some air." He walked out of club and stood outside.

Inside, as kei was walking away from the table, the music slowed down in tempo. Kei felt a tug at her arm. She looked and found minwoo holding onto her arm. "minwoo…"

"can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

Kei didn't answer. she gazed at the ground. Minwoo pulled her onto the dance floor and placed her hands on his shoulders and his own hands on her hips.

"I know that you would rather be talking on the dance floor than sitting down and talking," minwoo said. Kei avoided his eyes and looked away. Minwoo smiled. "you're still the great dancer that I knew before."

Kei looked back up at minwoo with a serious look on her face. "what did you need to talk about?"

The smile disappeared from minwoo's face and a frown took its place. Minwoo sighed. "look, I know that you probably don't wanna hear about it, but I really need to talk about it. It's been killing me inside all this time. I've been wanting to talk to you ever since we first met again. kei, I know that what happened before is still making you sad…"

When kei heard this, she turned her face away.

"…and it makes me sad every time I think back to it too. I never got to say how I'm really sorry about before. I didn't want it to happen. None of us did."

As minwoo spoke, tears spilled down kei's cheeks.

"but all this time, I wanted one thing…"

"what?"

"…your forgiveness. I never got a chance to ask you for it because you wouldn't talk to me. and then you moved away. I was so sad, because I know that what I did costed you-"

"don't say anymore," kei interrupted. "I don't wanna hear it."

"I know, I understand." Minwoo stopped moving to the beat and stood there with kei still in his hands. "what happened in the past is my life's biggest regret, and all I want now is your forgiveness."

Kei didn't answer.

"please kei. I want to be friends again. I want you to talk to me, laugh with me, dance with me…I hate myself for what I did before but…I want you back as a friend. Please don't avoid me anymore…" minwoo took her by the shoulders and made her face him. Kei lifted her head, showing off her cheeks, which were saturated with her tears.

"I, I'm sorry minwoo. I don't know if I can...not when yoojin is…" Without finishing what she was going to say, kei walked away and left the club.

"kei!" minwoo called after her.

"I'm back." minwoo spun around and found soo yung looking at him. "hey, where are kei and hyesung?"

"they left," minwoo answered.

"why did they leave already?"

"I dunno. I guess they didn't feel too good or something. Or they're gonna go for a walk…"

soo yung looked at minwoo with doubt and worry in her eyes.

Chapter 13

"ahh! Watch where you're go-!" hyesung yelled when he felt someone bump into him. The person just brushed past him, not apologizing or saying anything. Hyesung looked up and saw that it was kei that had bumped into him. She was walking away.

Hyesung ran after her. "hey keikei!"

Kei walked quickly down the street, wiping her tears away with her hands. She didn't bother to turn around to the voice calling her name.

There was a sudden tug at her left arm and she stopped walking. Hyesung walked in front of kei and took herby the shoulders. "what's wrong keikei? What's the matter? Did something happen?"

Kei looked up at hyesung with her red puffy eyes. She started to break down crying again and she leaned against hyesung for support. Hyesung looked at her in surprise. He didn't know if he should comfort her or not. He hesitantly placed his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. Kei didn't resist and cried upon his shoulder. Hyesung had one hand lightly rub her back, trying to soothe her. "it's oki keikei. Whatever happened is not worth crying over. Don't cry," he whispered softly to kei.

After a few minutes, kei's crying started to calm down. She stepped back from hyesung. "I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm fine now." Kei looked up and to her surprise, she found hyesung looking back at her with concerned eyes. She then spotted a large wet spot on hyesung's shirt where she had cried. Oh I'm sorry," she said, trying to wipe the stain away with her hand.

Hyesung looked down at the stain. "oh it's oki. It's just a shirt. As long as you're oki. Are you oki?"

Kei looked again at hyesung with surprised eyes. He must really be drunk, she thought to herself. Or highly buzzed…

"answer me sheesh. Don't scare me here."

"uhh, yeah…sniff I'm oki," kei finally answered.

"wanna take a walk?" hyesung suggested.

Kei nodded her head and started walking down the street. Hyesung followed her and walked by her side.

I hate crying girls, hyesung thought to himself. Have to be extra nice to them and everything.

They both walked until the they reached the park. They walked across the grass and sat themselves down next to the small pond in the park. Kei stared at the pond, moonlight reflecting off of it and glowing at kei's face. Hyesung looked over at kei. She had sad eyes, but the moonlight reflecting off of them seemed to make them sparkle and come to life. Those eyes…

Kei suddenly turned her head and face hyesung and hyesung immediately looked away. He cleared his throat and looke back at kei. "ahem. Dare I ask why you came running out of the club crying tonight?"

Kei didn't answer.

"someone mess with you?"

kei shook her head.

"you lose something?"

kei shook her head again.

"you missed me?"

kei glared at hyesung. Hyesung laughed, and kei managed and smile.

"you finally laugh."

Kei looked back towards the pond. "I used to love to laugh."

"there you go with 'used to love' again. sounds like you actually had a life before you became like how you are now."

"is there something wrong with how I'm now?"

"no not really. But you're so…far away from all of us. So hard to talk to. I mean, you used to at least talk to soo yung all the time but ever since soo yung and minwoo started going out, you don't even talk to soo yung anymore."

Kei pulled out a blade of grass and started fiddling around with it.

"jealous that minwoo took soo yung away or something?" hyesung asked.

"no…"

"hah, that's gotta be it."

Kei looked up at hyesung. "then how about you? you should be jealous too then, that soo yung's with minwoo too."

"what? No…" hyesung trailed off and looked away. Kei looked at hyesung's profile. The moonlight was illuminating his face with a white glow. Kei saw that there was a hint of sadness on hyesung's face.

"I mean, why should I be jealous? Soo yung's with minwoo. So what? It's not like I haven't seen her with other guys before. What am I supposed to do about it?" hyesung started to ramble.

Kei looked at hyesung in confusion. What is he saying? What's that supposed to mean…? Hmmm…he may be drunk…he's just babbling…

"I mean, here I am seeing soo yung go out with one guy after another, and it's like, I see her get hurt everytime each one breaks up. but what can I do? Nothing. I'm not supposed to do anything." Hyesung began to rub his head. pain was starting to throb at his temples due to the liquor.

"hyesung…you really do care for soo yung…" kei said softly.

Hyesung laughed. "yeah…knowing her for so long, I'm supposed to show that I care. But that's all she ever sees it as. As a friend caring." He hiccuped.

Kei looked at hyesung in surprise. "do you mean you…?"

Hyesung laid on his back and looked up at the skies. He closed his eyes. He began to feel a lil dizzy and he reached up and felt his forehead.

Kei scooted over. "hyesung are you oki?"

"headache…" he moaned.

Kei looked up and around. She found a gas station across the street from the corner of the park. "I'll be right back. You stay here." Kei got up and ran over to the market inside the gas station. She bought two bottles of water and ran back over to where hyesung laid. She shook his arm. "here, drink some. You'll feel better."

Hyesung opened one eye and looked at the bottle the kei was holding out to him. He reached up and took the bottle. He slowly sat back up and gulped down the cold refreshing water. He then laid back down and closed his eyes again. kei looked at his face. the moonlight made his pale face become even more paler, making it as white as snow. He looks so pure…almost as if he was a totally different hyesung that's always been so mean to me. Kei looked up at the night sky. It was a clear sky and stars were sparkling brightly in the skies. Kei laid down beside hyesung and looked up at the stars. She scanned the sky until she found 'it.' "yoojin…" she whispered.

"hmmm?" hyesung questioned. Kei turned her face and saw hyesung open his eyes. "what did you say?"

"oh, nothing," kei said in a sad tone.

Hyesung eyes traveled up to the sky. "the sky is beautiful tonight."

Kei nodded in agreement. "yes, it is."

"ugh…everything's blurry now. Headache."

Kei got up from her spot and scooted behind hyesung. "here," she said. She took hyesung's head into her hands and placed it on her lap. She then took her fingers, placed them on his temples, and started to rotate her fingers in circles. After a few seconds, kei asked, "feeling better?"

"mmmmm…" was the answer she got. Kei smiled and continued. she stopped after a couple minutes of massaging hyesung's head. "hyesung, how do you feel now? Hyesung? Hyesung?" she realized that hyesung had fallen asleep in her lap. Kei smiled. He's so cute when he's not mean…I wish he could always be like this…I know that he is not naturally mean…deep down inside, he is someone totally different, kei thought to herself. She raised her eyes to the sky again. she heaved a deep sigh. "yoojin…I miss you."

chapter 14

"where were you?" minwoo asked as hyesung came into the room. It was 2AM.

"I was with keikei," hyesung answered, letting himself into the room. He closed the door behind him and threw his keys on his desk.

'you were!" minwoo said a little surprised. "is she oki?"

"yeah. She cried a lot tho." Hyesung plopped onto his bed and kicked off his shoes.

"oh, so…did you two talk?"

hyesung looked at minwoo. "what's it to you?"

minwoo looked taken aback. "oh nothing. Just wondering, uh, why she ran off."

Hyesung took off his shirt.

"why are you so concerned about keikei now? Before you were totally absorbed into soo yung. You never really gave any attention to her before." Hyesung changed into a T-shirt and shorts and got ready for bed.

"no, it's not that. I care for kei's self-being too."

Hyesung looked at minwoo. "really?" hyesung eyed minwoo. " So what's that supposed to mean? You mean soo yung-"

"this has nothing to do with soo yung. I like soo yung. Don't mistake that with anything."

After a slight nesitation, hyesung started to laugh. "fine fine. It's all good."

Minwoo looked at hyesung. "but really…did you guys talk?"

Hyesung looked back up at minwoo. "not really. I had a headache from drinking and I still do. I need to go to sleep now."

"oki then I'll let you sleep. Nite man."

"nite…by the way, do you know why keikei ran out of the club crying today?"

"um…no…"

"never mind then. Nite."

"nite." Hyesung pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep. Minwoo continued sitting on his bed with a dazed look on his face.

Kei opened her eyes to the morning sunlight shining through her window. She looked over to soo yung's bed and found soo yung still sleeping. kei rolled out of bed and got her toiletries to go brush her teeth.

she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. she turned around and found hyesung walking out of the bathroom with a toothbrush and toothpaste in his hands. kei thought back to the night before, how hyesung had contradicted to his usual mean demeanor and had a more comforting and nice behavior. Mebbe he's really not that bad, kei thought. kei put a smile on her face.

"morning hyesung," she greeted brightly to hyesung.

hyesung looked up and found kei in front of him. he stood for a moment looking at kei smiling at him.

he finally spoke. "are you gonne move? you're making me late for class you know."

the smile disappeared from kei's face and she took a small step to the side. hyesung walked past her towards his room. kei stood there with a confused look on her face. "was i actually with the same hyesung last night? or was that a totally different person?" she continued towards the bathroom.

minwoo, who was coming out of the bathroom himself, had seen the whole thing. that was real mean of hyesung, he thought to himself. Why is he so resentful to her all the time?

Chapter 15

weeks later…

Kei sipped her juice as her eyes scanned over the words in her textbook. She had decided to study outside the psychology building on the lawn. "psychoanalysis is the method that…"

"hello," a low voice said from behind.

Kei looked up behind her and found a tall built guy standing behind her. "um, hello," kei timidly greeted.

"mind if I sit down?"

kei shook her head and the stranger sat down beside her.

"hey, aren't you dongwan? We have psych together," kei asked.

Dongwan flashed a smile and nodded. "yup. I'm surprised you know my name, lim kei, considering that our class is about 200 people."

Kei gave a small smile. "you participate a lot on class, making comments and everything. Of course I would know your name. Everyone knows your name. How in the world would you know my name?"

"oh, cuz you're soo yung's friend, right?"

kei smiled and rolled her eyes. "I should've known."

"what?"

"that you know me through soo yung."

"why do you say that?"

"cuz that's the only way that people would know me, through soo yung. I'm just surprised that you didn't call me soo yung's sidekick like most people."

"what? Oh no I wouldn't do that."

Kei smiled and turned back to her book. Dongwan looked over her shoulder. "studying for the midterm?"

Kei nodded.

"hehehe. Well hey, why don't we study together? We can go to a coffeeshop and study together or something?"

kei looked up at dongwan. "you want to study together?"

"sure why not? We can get some coffee while we're studying…"

nearby, hyesung was walking by and he saw kei sitting with another guy on the grass. "kim dongwan?" hyesung saw kei and dongwan talking and smiling at each other. Hyesung's eyes instinctively shot to kei's eyes. "those eyes…" Kei's eyes had light and happines in them, contrary to their usual withdrawn and distant state. hyesung subconsciously made his way over to dongwan and kei.

"hey keikei."

Kei looked up and found hyesung walking towards her. "hyesung…"

"are you gonna go home right now? Let's walk together," hyesung said with a slight smile on his face.

Kei looked at hyesung in surprise. Hyesung never offered to walk home together. "um, I guess." She turned to dongwan. "I guess it'll be a raincheck on that coffee."

Dongwan smiled. "no problem. Mebbe after the midterm, we can celebrate or something."

Kei gave a little nod. "that'd be nice." She got up to her feet and waved to dongwan. "I'll see you tomorrow in class."

Dongwan waved back. "see you in class."

Kei walked off with hyesung. Kei found her heart a little light and fluttery while she walked with him. a smile slowly crept onto her face.

Hyesung looked over at kei and saw the smile. those eyes again…so pretty…but is she smiling…because of dongwan? Cuz of him?

They walked 2 blocks in silence. Hyesung then cleared his throat. "so how was psych class?"

"oh, it was oki."

"just oki? How can you be so happy then?"

"well…"

"oh, must be cuz of that guy kim dongwan huh?"

"no, it isn't cuz—"

"I remember him. He used to be with soo yung but he dumped her a while ago. You better watch out. He's a real slick guy. Picks up and dumps girlfriends here and there."

Kei stopped in her tracks. "I'm not his girlfriend. We just talked for the first time today."

Hyesung looked at her. "oh yeah. Only after one time and he makes you all giddy and everything."

"what? I'm not giddy."

"then why are you smiling?"

"…"

"can't answer huh? First time keikei here hits puberty and it has to be kim dongwan."

"what? Is it a crime for me to smile? And what is it that you have against dongwan?"

hyesung slightly hesitated. "nothing. I hardly know the guy."

Kei was starting to get peeved. "then don't be so mean about him. I don't think he's as bad a guy as you say about him."

Hyesung noticed the growing resentment in her voice and smiled. "fine fine, before you nite my head off. You can be so touchy about a guy that you 'just met.'"

"you know, why did I even say yes to walk with you home?"

"I don't know. Why did you?"

"why did you even ask in the first place?"

hyesung shrugged. "something hit me in the head, I guess."

Kei stared at hyesung. She then walked off ahead of hyesung by herself.

Hyesung sighed and smiled to himself. "yup, it's puberty." He continued walking home a distance behind kei.

Kei made it up to her floor and walked over to her room. as she approached the door that was slightly cracked open, she heard voices from within. When she came to the door, she distinguished minwoo's and soo yung's voices. "I should leave…" kei thought and turned to leave.

"…do you know why hyesung is so mean to kei?" minwoo's voice said. Kei stopped walking at hearing her name.

"yea I know. I noticed it too."

"I mean, he's cool with you. You guys fight all the time, but you guys have known each other for so long. And he's oki with it's just me and him. But whenever I see him with kei, he seems to take on a different personality or something."

"so I'm not the only one that notices it," soo yung said. "I dunno. He used to be fine before. It's only when we hit college that he started to really be a jerk. I dunno why. He used to do really well in school too. Now he copies my homework all the time and his grades have dropped."

Kei heard minwoo sigh. "I mean, I can tell he's not a bad guy. It's just that he's oki for one minute, then the next minutes he turns sour. And usually, it's when kei's around and he yells at her and stuff."

There was a pause. "minwoo?"

"yeah soo yung?"

"why did kei run out that one night at the club?"

silence.

"minwoo, is there something you're not telling me? Is there something about kei that you're not telling me?"

"no…"

"you're not harassing her or anything are you?"

"no no! why would I do that? I just complained about hyesung being mean to kei. I wouldn't do that if my life depended on it." Kei sensed some tension in his voice.

Soo yung was a little surprised by minwoo's reaction. "then why did she leave?"

Minwoo didn't answer. "it's cuz…"

"cuz what? Minwoo…"

kei bursted through the door. "I'm back soo yung!" kei said loudly. Soo yung and minwoo looed up. Kei acted surprised when she saw minwoo. "oh minwoo. I didn't know you were in here." She saw in his eyes a hint of relief.

"hi kei," minwoo said.

"oki, if you don't mind, I want to get changed. Out, out!" kei said. She scooted minwoo out the door. Out of soo yung's sight and hearing, kei mumbled to minwoo, "don't tell her anything." Minwoo nodded. Kei then closed the door, leaving minwoo standing outside.

"I won't say a thing," minwoo mumbled softly to himself.

"don't tell what?' a voice said. Minwoo turned and saw hyesung. Minwoo stared at grimly.

"nothing," minwoo replied, and he walked back to his and hyesung's room.

hyesung frowned. What are those two hiding?

"kei, tell me something," soo yung said.

"what?" kei said while was changing her clothes.

"I never got to ask you before. What happened that night at the club? Why did you run out last night?"

kei slipped on a shirt and looked at soo yung. "nothing. I just wanted to leave at the time. I took a walk with hyesung. You can even ask him about it."

Soo yung sat there looking at kei. "you…you sure there's nothing wrong?"

Kei shook her head. "no there isn't."

"um, oki then."

Kei smiled at soo yung and sat down at her desk and turned on her computer, her back turned to soo yung. Soo yung still had an uneasy look on her face.

"oki, I'm suspicious now. Is there something going on between you and kei? What I've seen for the past 2 weeks and just now just totally…" hyesung said when he and minwoo reached their own room.

"no there isn't," minwoo said, not looking at hyesung.

"oh puh-leeze. All of the sudden outta the blue, you become so concerned about kei after that night at the club, and just now, the tension between you two was so obvious that i saw it all the way from the stairs."

Minwoo didn't respond.

Hyesung gave a disgusted sigh. "I get it now. You know, I can't believe that you're cheating on soo yung with her best friend—"

Minwoo abruptly turned to hyesung. "what! I am NOT cheating on soo yung! You don't know anything so just shut up."

"well tell me and maybe I will know and shut up."

Minwoo looked away. "what if I don't?"

"then that just means that you are cheating on soo yung."

Minwoo laughed in disbelief. "look hyesung. I can't believe that you're accusing me of cheating on my girlfriend when you don't even know the whole story—" minwoo cut himself off.

"then what is the story? What is it that you can't tell me or soo yung?"

minwoo looked at hyesung. "you seem so concerned about soo yung."

Hyesung glared at minwoo. "of course I am. I'm her friend."

"is that the only reason why?"

"look minwoo. Don't try to turn the tables on me. We're talking about you and kei."

"there's nothing to talk about."

"BS."

"look, why do you care? Do you want kei and soo yung not to be friends anymore or something? You seem to really want something to be between me and kei."

"no. I just want to know the truth."

"your truth. You must be hating on me and kei or something. You know, you're always so mean to her, like you always want to make her life miserable or something."

"no I don't…well, I know that I'm mean to her sometimes, but I'm not aiming to make her life miserable."

"whatever. If I were her I wouldn't want to be around you if you kept calling me fat and dumb and boring."

"I don't mean thoese things when I say it."

"then don't say it!"

"why are you so worked up over this?"

"argh! Forget it! You don't get it. You never will." Minwoo got up and walked to the door.

"where are you going?" hyesung called after minwoo.

"out." With that minwoo left the room. as soon as the door closed, the phone in the room rang. Hyesung answered it.

"hello?"

"hyesung? Is minwoo there?" soo yung's voice on the other end said.

"no. he just went out."

"oh."

"soo yung?"

"yeah?"

"did you and minwoo fight lately?"

"no, we didn't. why?"

"I'll be honest with you. I think minwoo's hiding something."

"…I think so too."

"I don't want to be nosy or anything but minwoo's acting strange. I'm just concerned about you."

"thanks hyesung. I'm fine. I'll talk to minwoo. You're a good friend when you're not a jerk."

"hey, I'm a jerk only if you think I'm a jerk."

"sure sure. I'm gonna see if I can catch minwoo. I really need to talk to him."

"good luck. I just tried."

"hmmm…well thanks hyesung. I'll talk to you later."

"later." Hyesung hung up the phone. "there's gotta be something between keikei and minwoo, I'm sure of it. That quiet girl is evil! Not good. sigh Oh no! I forgot to ask soo yung for homework." Hyesung got up and left the room.

soo yung hung up the phone and ran to the door.

"where are you going?" kei asked.

"I'm gonna see if I can find minwoo. I have to talk to him."

"about what?"

"kei, I think minwoo's hiding something from me." About you, soo yung thought to herself.

Kei reacted slowly. "um, hiding what? He doesn't seem to be hiding anything."

"I think that he is. I have to go now." Soo yung ran out of the room.

"oh no! soo yung!" but soo yung ignored kei's calls. Without thinking, kei ran after soo yung.

Hyesung approached the girls' room. he lifted his hand to knock on the door but he found that the door was slightly cracked open already. He pushed the door open.

"hello?"

no one was in the room. kei's computer was still on. Hyesung leaned in and scanned what was on the screen. "hmmm…psych stuff. Karen Horney? What kind of name is that? 'personality, according to horney, develops around how much love a person receives. The more the love, the happier the person. The less the love, the more depressed and distant a person becomes.' O-kay. Sure. Hmmm, I don't think soo yung will be back soon. The homework will only be a minute." Hyesung searched around soo yung's stuff and finally found the homework. "eureka! Yes!" he cried happily. He headed back to his room and copied the homework. He then walked back to the girls' room and put soo yung's homework back where it was. "see, she won't notice." Hyesung headed towards the door when something caught his eye. He stopped in his tracks and turned towards kei's desk. A yellow notebook. "kei's diary…hmmm…" hyesung walked over, picked up the notebook, and sat down on kei's bed. "let's see what's in that mind of hers…dang, this thing is huge. When did she start this thing?" hyesung opened to the first page. "april 28, 1997? Dang…this book was before high school…" he opened to another spot in the diary.

Chapter 16

May 6, 1997 wow, I only had this book for about a week and already I've written so many pages. This is sad. Journal, you're like the only friend that I talk to. There is no one at school that I talk to. Everyone has their boyfriend/girlfriend now, and no one talks to me anymore. I feel so lonely. Even Mom's found a new boyfriend. Is there something wrong with me?

Hyesung snickered. "sheesh, talk about depressed." He skipped some pages.

December 15, 1997 sorry I haven't written in here for so long. I've been kinda busy. Math homework is no fun. Anywayz, I guess I haven't been writing in here as much as I used to cuz I've actually found someone that will talk to me. Her name is yoojin.

"yoojin? How come that sounds so familiar?"

yoojin is a girl that everyone likes. The nice and pretty one. I was so surprised when she came up to me a couple days ago and ate lunch with me. I mean, why would she want to eat lunch with a loser like me? But I'm happy. I think I found a new friend.

"hmmm…"

january 1, 1998 hey! A new year! Yoojin and I went out today and look! We took sticky pics! Here's one!

Hyesung looked at the sticky pic that was stuck in the diary. There were two girls' faces in the pic. Hyesung picked out kei's face. She looked pretty much the same except for the hair. The other girl's face was oval shaped with big eyes, a pointed nose, and a nice smile. Cute.

I guess I can say that I feel a lot better now than I have felt before in my life. I guess I've never had a peson that I was close to. Dad left me and mom when I was 2, and mom's got her boyfriend…I think his name's sean…and no one in elem or middle school ever wanted to talk to me. Yoojin's the only person that I've ever been comfortable with. Let's say she's like the light in my life. If she was a guy, she would be my soulmate, haha. But no, I'm not gay like that. Let's just say that yoojin's been a light in my life, and I'm real glad to have her as a friend.

Skip…skip…skip…

March 14, 1999 I think I have competition for yoojin. Hehehe. No, I don't mean that I'm gay or anything now. But lately, yoojin's found someone else to take her attention away…

Hyesung's eyes widened. "what the…?"

Chapter 17

"soo yung!" kei finally caught up to soo yung and grabbed her arm. Soo yung turned around and faced kei. "kei, why? Why are you chasing me? I'm only looking for minwoo to talk to him?" soo yung's started to moisten.

"um…" kei didn't know how to answer. She realized that chasing after soo yung did not make her look good.

"kei, tell me the truth…is there something going on between you and minwoo?"

kei looked up at soo yung. "no there isn't. what are you talking about?"

"I saw you two together that night at the club. I saw you two dance together…really close together…and then I saw you cry and run out of the club. And you two have been acting weird towards me ever since…like you guys are hiding something…"

kei looked away. She couldn't bear to look at soo yung straight in the eye. "soo yung, I…"

"kei. You are my best friend. Minwoo is my boyfriend. Why are you two acting this way towards me? It scares me…it hurts me…the thought that you two might be…" soo yung's bottom lip started to waver.

Sudden tears started spilling out of kei's eyes. "soo yung, this…this really hurts me too…and…and…I guess I have to tell you…before this gets out of hand…"

A tear slid out of soo yung's eye. "oh no…don't tell me it's true…"

Kei looked up and faced soo yung with her teary eyes. "i…used to know minwoo from before…"

Soo yung's eyees wend wide with shock. "you…did?"

"y-yes…and…we…we…"

"you..guys….you guys went out with each other?"

kei, with her head hung low and tears falling from her eyes to the ground below her, began to shake her head side to side. She then spun on her heel and ran down the street.

"kei!" soo yung called after her. Kei ignored her and continued to disappear down the street.

Lee Minwoo sat in the front corner of the room near the door and yoojin would always be gazing at him during class. The girl is sick. I dunno. I don't see what's so great about him. All the girls are gaga over him, but he seems to ignore all of them, though that doesn't seem to make them go away. He doesn't talk too much…I guess in that respect he's like me. I don't know, I think that he just thinks that he's all that…I hate those kinda people…think that they're better than everyone and everything. Argh, they get on my nerves. Eek, gotta go now, bell's about to ring.

"minwoo and kei knew each other from before? They said they didn't. why did they do that?"

march 19, 1999 I just had the worst day today. I'm still shaken up about it. It's so horrible. Here's what happened:

I went to meet mrs. Cho in the dance gym, but she wasn't there yet. So there I was in the room staring at myself in the mirrors on that one wall. I am so ugly. Anywayz, I was so bored that I stuck one of my cd's into the stereo in that room and started dancing. I love dancing. It's probably the only thing that I enjoy doing. It helps me relax and just release all my stress. I've never been a great oral speaker and dancing like the only way that I can express myself, although I never let anyone see me dance. I guess I express my innermost feelings with my body, and luckily, no one knows what i'm trying to "say." I was wrong. A few minutes into dancing someone slid in front of me and started busting moves too. I was caught off guard, and I felt so embarassed. I mean…someone saw me dance. I was so shocked and ashamed. I just made a fool of myself in front of someone…someone that was good. The person was moving so smoothly and nicely. He pretty much flowed across the floor. I was so taken in by how he moved. It was awesome. He was real good. What made me want to cry right then and there was that the guy's hat flew off and guess who it was…lee minwoo! I felt so stupid. I just left the room. now he's gonna laugh at me everyt time he sees me. I can't stop crying now. I'm so stupid.

"dang…she's good though. She can be so sensitive, sheesh."

March 20, 1999 I had a weird day today. Still kinda dazed I guess. I mean, I was still kinda depressed about yesterday. I felt horrible, like in the dumps. Even yoojin was asking me if I was oki. I can't face her now. Her best friend is now a laughingstock to her dream guy. I pretty much ruined her chance with minwoo. I'm such a stupid friend.

Those thoughts were running through my head the whole day, and I was just plain out of it. But something freaky happened. I'll write it as I remember:

I was walking out of school afterschool. Yoojin had a club meeting today so I was gonna walk home alone. All of the sudden, minwoo jumped out in front of me. I was so scared. I swear I couldn't look at him in the face. I was too embarassed about yesterday. He was like, "hey kei." He knew my name for some reason. I never talked to him before and the teacher hardly calls on me in class. He then pulled my arm and dragged me to the dance room. oki, I was so confused and surprised at the same time. Scared the heck outta me. My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was gonna give out. I was like, why did he bring me here? So he could laugh at me even more? Like I hadn't suffered enough embarassment already. But I couldn't open my mouth to ask him that. Like I said, I'm a horrible talker, and my mouth never cooperates with me. Minwoo then took the cd that I ran off without from yesterday and popped it into the stereo. He then came up to me and said, "dance." I was about to cry. So he did bring me to get more laughs. I guess he saw me about to cry cuz he wa like, "what's wrong?" now I see why people say he's cute. Up close, when I saw the anxious look on his face, he did look pretty cute. But I couldn't answer him. He was like, "come on, what's wrong?" I finally was able to get my voice to work. I asked him, really softly, "why did you bring me here?" he just smiled. He then said, "wait a minute. I have to go to the restroom first." He left and I was alone in the gym. The music was still on. So my body started to move. So many emotions were pent up inside me that I couldn't hold it all in. whenever I get really emotional, I have to dance or move in order to be oki. Pretty soon, I was getting into the music. I started to dance real hard. I didn't notice that minwoo never did go to the restroom like he said he did. He was right outside the room all the time. He snuck back into the room and started dancing next to me, trying to follow my moves. When I saw him doing that, I was uncomfortable again. I'm not used to having people see me dance, let alone dance with me. It was weird though. What made me keep dancing was that he smiled at me. For some reason, it made me keep dancing. I surprised myself cuz I didn't stop…and neither did he. We danced for quite a while nonstop, side by side. It was sorta fun really. I still felt weird then, and I still do. We finally stopped and sat down on the floor to rest. I was tired but psyched. I love the feeling after a good dance. Minwoo crawled over to me and was like, "feel better?" I was like, "I dunno." I got up and just left the room. while I was dancing, I didn't pay attention to him much. But now that I was back in reality, his presence made me feel weird. He followed me out of the school.

"are you oki?' he asked. I didn't asnwer. "look, was it cuz I was around? Am I making you nervous or something?"

I didn't answer again.

"but you seemed fine when you were dancing back there."

I kept walking. He kept following.

"you don't say much, do you? You won't even tell me to shut up or go away or anything."

I finally stopped and faced him. I was starting to get peeved. "you know, I never woulda known that you talked this much either."

Minwoo smiled. "hehe, that's true huh. I guess I'm pretty quiet in class. But you are too. You're quieter than me."

"that's cuz I don't have girls swarming all over me like you do."

"you're lucky."

"sure whatever."

"I never would have guessed such a quiet girl like you could dance so well."

"what the heck are you talking about? Don't make fun of me." I tried to get away from him.

"no I'm serious. You're really good. When you were dancing yesterday, I was like whoa. There's someone out there that can be so absorbed into music and that can dance so smoothly."

"no…that would be you."

"hehe…fine, we're both the same. So are you busy afterschol everyday?"

I looked at him confused. "no…why?"

He smiled. "it's not fun dancing by myself all the time, you know."

Was that an invitation? I couldn't tell. "the dance room's not always open though."

"mrs. Cho's a family friend. She'll let me use the gym afterschool."

"so you want to just dance everyday afterschool?"

"yeah…you don't wanna?"

I kinda didn't know what to say. I mean, I was kinda in a state of shock. Not kinda, I mean TOTALLY. Here is the guy that didn't pay attention to the girls drooling over him in class asking me to hang out with him everyday afterschool. There's something wrong with this picture. I have to be the ugliest person there is alive.

"um…I guess…if you say so…"

"great!" minwoo actually kinda jumped, scaring the bejeezus outta me. "so we'll start tomorrow, oki?"

"um, sure…oki, this is my house. I'll, um, talk to you later."

"great, see you tomorrow." Minwoo stood in front of my house until I had gotten into my house. Then he left.

Now like I said, I still feel weird. I never woulda guessed that something like this would happen to me. Now I'm hoping that minwoo isn' just playing me. One, that would make me feel real stupid. Two, I kinda do wanna dance. As much as I don't like having other people around when I dance, like minwoo said, it's kinda boring sometimes dancing by yourself.

The one thing that's bugging me the most is yoojin. Should I tell her about this? I mean, I feel like I'm stabbing her in the back if I don't tell her. But I don't know if it's a good idea to tell her. She's real sensitive and everything, and she might get the wrong idea and stuff. No. I should tell her. I'm not doing anything with minwoo, just dancing and hanging out with him afterschool. Yes. I'll tell her tomorrow. Now I better go to sleep. Nite. Kei.

"whoa. Oki. So minwoo and keikei used to dance together before. That explains why they both looked good together that night. But…didn't kei say that she 'used' to like dancing? If she loved dancing so much, why in the world would she say that?" hyesung turned back to the diary.

Chapter 18

"kei!"

"don't call her anymore. She won't listen," a voice to soo yung's side said. Soo yung turned around and found minwoo standing next to her.

"minwoo…"

"kei and I used to know each other in high school." He turned towards soo yung. "but no, we never went out with each other."

"then…then why does kei despise being around you? What happened before in the past that makes her hate you now?"

minwoo sighed. "to make a long story short, it's because of yoojin."

"yoojin?"

april 4, 1999 It's been about 2 weeks now since minwoo and I have been dancing everyday afterschool. We haven't missed one day; it's really fun. Everyday I look forward to the last school bell to ring so I can go to the dance room and find minwoo there already dancing in front of the mirror. It's really something to see, him dancing…the concentration on his face, his deliberate movements of his arms, his careful yet spontaneous steps with his feet…he's amazing. I don't know why he would want to dance with me around. I look inferior to him. But it's not like I can walk away. Something pulls me into the room and make me dance next to him. There's this intangible attraction about minwoo that I feel now. I'm not afraid of dancing in front of him now. In a sense, it feels like he knows what I say, how I feel, all through my dancing. He is the ONLY one who would understand. And he feels the same way too, because I see it in his dancing too. When he dances, I can sense that he feels trapped, choked, locked up. He wants to let loose, to be free…just like me. I guess that's why we both get along so well…so well…but…now, not only do I see him dancing in our little sessions afterschool, but I see him dancing in my mind all the time. In class, at home, before I go to sleep, and when I wake up. His face appears before me wherever I go and whatever I do now. What does this all mean? Why is this happening?

April 5, 1999 oki, I am just like all weird and everything right now. You know that school festival coming up? Well, minwoo said that one of the events there is gonna be a dance contest, and he's thinking of the two of us entering. Is he out of his mind! I can't perform in front of everyone! That's just not gonna work. Even though it'll be us both being partners and everything, it just won't work out! I have a hard enough time talking to people, but performing in front of people? The only person I feel comfortable dancing around is minwoo. I don't think I can do it.

April 6, 1999 bada, another classmate, came up to me today and talked about the dance competition. She told me that it was going to be a good one cuz junjin, another guy in our class, was gonna enter with eric. Those two are good. I've seen them dance before. I don't see how minwoo coulda thought that the two of us could compete against those two. I mean, I can see that minwoo would probably be able to by himself. If it was the two of us, we would lose for sure. Well, I would drag him down. Anywayz, there is no way that I'm gonna be in the competition. I just can't handle it. Not in front of the whole school. No way.

I went to the dance room afterschool. I can't not go, even though it meant minwoo pestering me and everything to change my mind about the competition. Got to the room and as usual, minwoo was dancing on his twinkle-toes already. He was dancing some moves that I have never seen before. He said he was working on the routine for the festival. I was like, oh. So he's gonna still compete, even if I'm not gonna be dancing with him. In a way, I felt sad. I mean, I know I'm nothing to him, but I guess I was kinda hoping that he wouldn't compete. But that's stupid of me to even think that. I mean, if I were to disappear, he'd still be oki and stuff, which I'm happy for. He should. He can make it big without a loser like me. I helped him a bit with the routine. It's gonna be a real good routine. But it's weird. The routine's for two people, not solo. His partner's definitely not me, so he musta found another person. Funny thing is, he won't tell me who it is. I wonder who it is.

April 25, 1999 it's a few days before the big day now. Minwoo asked me what I'm gonna wear. I was like, I dunno, mebbe all black, a black top with a black overshirt and black slacks. He was like cool. I wonder why he asked in the first place. Oh well. I'd like to see what he and his partner picked out for their outfits. They're supposed to have matching outfits. Man, I still don't know who his partner is. What the heck is up with that? Well anywayz, the festival's gonna be fun. I'm curious about junjin and eric's routine. Should be a good one. I think minwoo and his partner's routine will beat them though. We'll see.

April 29, 1999 I had the most bizarre day today. Guess what? I got the first place trophy for the dance competition. Yes, I did.

At the festival, I was watching the dances. My gosh, I was watching junjin and eric's routine and they were really good. They did a robotic routine and it was so cool. But deep inside, I knew that minwoo's routine would beat them. So anywayz, I went to go check up on minwoo cuz I knew that he was probably practicing backstage, the perfectionist that he was. I went backstage and saw him dressed in all white…the exact opposite of my outfit. White overshirt, a white wifebeater, and white pants with matching white shoes…I guess him and his partner, who was nowhere to be seen, were wearing all white. I went up to him and asked him where his partner was. He was like he didn't know, probably on the way. I was like oh oki. He then asked me to practice with him, and I was like, sure, if it would help him out. We practiced for a few minutes when someone came and said, "lee minwoo and lim kei, you guys are up!" I was like, wait a minute, minwoo AND me! What's going on here? And before I knew it, minwoo was pulling me onto the stage and I was facing the whole school. I was so surprised and scared. I swear I was gonna pee in my pants. The music started and I was scared stiff. I could not move. Minwoo came up behind me and said in my ear, "I'll explain to you later. Let's just dance right now." Minwoo began to dance, while I just stood there. Oh crud, I had to do something…fast. I looked over at minwoo and watched him dance. Suddenly, the stage evolved and me and minwoo were back in the dance gym dancing afterschool like usual. All the people's faces disappeared and I just saw minwoo and just heard the music. A comfortable and relaxing feeling swept over me and made the nervous shock in me disappear. Seeing myself back in the gym, I started to dance too. My body flowed through the familiar moves, the moves that minwoo and i had labored over choreographing for the past 2 weeks. The first part of our routine had us dancing against each other in a mini showdown. He would dance a set of moves, and then I would take my turn. Soon the showdown ended and the music took a turn in its style. Minwoo and I came together and held hands. Upbeat tango music blared out of the speakers and minwoo and I did a modernized tango dance. This part of the routine was my idea and it's my favorite part of the dance. This time when we danced more seriously than usual. Our minds were totally set on the dance. Our hearts beated to the beat of the music. Our bodies flowed together as one. I put all my effort into this one dance. Finally, we broke apart and danced the ending of the routine. Our limbs moved simultaneously with one another, not one second earlier or later than the other. Finally, we shot our right arms to the sky it was all over. I didn't hear the music anymore. Instead, I heard applause, hoots, and whistles. I guess I snapped back into reality and realized that I was still on a stage. I had just performed in front of the whole school. Never would I have ever imagined that I would do anything in the observance of the whole school. Suddenly I felt minwoo hug me and whisper in my ear, "that was perfect." He then bowed to the audience. Me? I didn't bow. I ran off the stage. I was so embarrassed and shocked at the whole thing. I ran out of the school and ran all the way home. I ran to my bed and just cried. Cried and cried and cried. Cried until I fell asleep. Sigh…I just felt, I dunno…horrible. The whole school saw me. My gosh, the whole school saw me…

I don't know for how long I had been asleep cuz all of the sudden I felt a lil tugging on my arm sleep and I woke up. I found minwoo in front of me, showing off that silly grin of his. I wanted to slap him in the face. I wanted to strangle minwoo. I wanted to roll over and die. I didn't know which one I wanted to do first. I was about to hit minwoo with my pillow when he pulled out something from behind his back. A trophy? We had won first place, beating junjin and eric who had come in 2nd place. Minwoo told me that he never had another partner and had entered us two as partners all along. Should I have been mad? I dunno. But he then handed me the trophy and told me to keep it.

And now I have it. I don't know exactly how I feel right now. I still feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, the performance and everything. But I guess I feel happy too, that minwoo and I put on a good show.

As much as I know I shouldn't be doing so, I keep thinking about minwoo more and more, more than just a dancing partner. I know that the only thing in minwoo's life right now is dancing. He told me that he's not interested in getting into a relationship. I mean, I never expected to get with him or anything. But…I can't control my feelings and I feel horrible…because of yoojin. I already feel bad that I'm hanging out with the guy that she likes. I never did tell her about me and minwoo dancing afterschool, and she musta been shocked when she saw us dance. But we just danced together, that's all. Nothing more…yet I feel like I'm betraying her nevertheless cuz deep down inside, I know that I've fallen for the same guy that she's fallen for. I dunno, mebbe this is nothing. I'm thinking too much. But, I feel horrible inside. Real horrible…

"whoa…so keikei liked minwoo, and so did her friend yoojin. Man, what's so great about minwoo? Sheesh…" hyesung retorted. Yet deep inside, a pang of a mixture of sadness and jealousy arose.

"after that school festival, kei and I still danced in the dance room afterschool. We were both linked by dance," minwoo told soo yung. They were sitting on the swings in the park. "I love dancing. It's practically my life. That's the reason why I liked being around kei so much. Cuz we were both so serious about dancing. Mebbe I was more than she was, but she was still real serious about it."

After listening to minwoo tell her about his past with kei, soo yung finally asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for the whole night. "so…did you like kei?"

Minwoo sighed. "seems like it, huh? But I don't think I ever did like kei as more than a real good friend. I made that pretty clear to her too. And kei never really did anything. She respected my interests and beliefs. I dunno if she ever felt differently, but I don't think so and we were both happy the way we were.

"One day kei's friend yoojin came up to me. We were just talking and stuff like that. She asked me if I was busy afterschool that day. I was like why? She was like nothing, just wondering if I had wanted to go shopping with her. I was like, yeah I was busy afterschool. Then she was like, well, how about tomorrow afterschool? And I wasl ike, well, I'm pretty busy everyday afterschool. Weekends were out of the question cuz I had to work. I guess she didn't take that too well. She looked real sad after I said that, but I couldn't help it. I kinda ran out on her cuz I was late for the afterschool session with kei, which was more important on my mind then."

"so you broke another girl's heart."

Minwoo shrugged. "didn't mean to. But…what happened with yoojin was different…"

"how is it different with her?"

minwoo heaved a big sigh. "what happened to her affected me more than I thought it would, and it taught me how strong feelings can be…"

Chapter 19

april 30, 1999 hey diary. Oh my gosh, I don't know what to do right now. Yoojin just called me. She's really unhappy now…and I'm really unhappy now too. I don't know what I should do. Yoojin told me that she talked to minwoo today. I guess she was finally trying to make her move on minwoo. She tried to get him to go with her somewhere afterschool, but he kept saying he was busy. Now yoojin thinks that minwoo is disgusted with her. I tried to comfort her, telling her that minwoo is not disgusted with her, that he probably is really busy. I didn't know if I should tell her about the dance sessions or not. But…I think even if I did tell her, she wouldn't have heard me. She was hysterical and crying so hard that she wasn't really listening to anything I said…and I don't think that I'm worthy of telling her anything anywayz. I stabbed her in the back, liking the guy that she liked. She was in real bad shape. She was totally infatuated with minwoo. She was then like, 'oh, you're close to minwoo, right?' I was like, 'um no not really.' 'but you two danced at the festival. When did you guys practice that? I never knew you could dance like that.' I didn't want her to turn the tables on me. I felt real uncomfortable. I said, 'yoojin, I think you should go rest. Don't worry too much anymore, oki?' but I don't think she heard me. She then said, 'since you know minwoo, mebbe you can talk to him for me.' I was like, 'huh? Me?' yoojin sounded real desperate. 'please kei. I don't think I can be with anyone except for minwoo. I think of him all the time. He is the only person that I like and that I will ever like.' I was then like, 'mebbe he's just not interested in a relationship right now.' She didn't hear that either. 'I don't care! I HAVE to get with minwoo.' I'm really worried now. I'm stuck in the middle of this whole thing now. I was afraid that this was going to happen. Now what am I gonna do?

"the next day afterschool, kei seemed distracted while we were dancing. She wasn't dancing whole-heartedly, like she usually did. So we stopped and just sat down on the floor. She semed like something was on her mind, like there was something eating her up inside. I was like, "what's wrong?" After a moment she finally spoke. She asked me, "minwoo, can you do me a BIG favor?" I was like, 'what is it?' then she asked me if I would go on one date with her friend yoojin. I was like, "huh?" kei then told me that it would mean a lot to her if I did. Kei looked really torn when she asked me. I guess she knew how I didn't want to start anything with anyone, but it seemed like she was really stressed. So I promised her that I would go out with yoojin once, for kei's sake. That way I could make it clear to yoojin myself that I wasn't interested in anyone and kei wouldn't have to be in the middle anymore. Kei looked so relieved when I promised. So we set up the date, and yoojin and I went for a movie and dinner. Nothing real big. Yoojin was real happy. But, like I said, I wasn't interested in getting into a relationship. I just considered her as a friend at the most. I guess she didn't feel the same way. So at the end of the night, I told her that I had a good time and everything, but that I wasn't interested in a relationship with her or anyone. I guess she was kinda dumbfounded." Minwoo looked up at soo yung who was looking back at minwoo with her attentive eyes. "I dunno. I just thought that for a girl like yoojin, she could do better than someone like me."

Soo yung leaned on minwoo's arm. "no one's better than you, minwoo. She has good taste."

Minwoo stroked soo yung's hair. "any guy's better than me. Just that no girl's better than you, my dear."

may 1, 1999 yoojin just called me. She sounded real bad again. I was like, "did the date go real bad or something?" she was like, "no, it was great. But minwoo hates me. He told me that he didn't like me." I told her that she can't help that. "you can't force him to like you, yoojin. Look, just find someone else. There is at least one guy out there who is better than minwoo and who will return her love." She was like, "I know, but I can't help it. I really want to be with him." What am I supposed to do? I want out of this whole mess, yet I can't turn my back on yoojin. God, what am I supposed to do?

May 2, 1999 help me…I wish I was never born. Today at the dance session, I was practicing a dance with minwoo where we were real close to each other, and yoojin saw us! We weren't doing anything. But when she came to the dance room, we did not see her and danced really close to each other. When I was leaving for the room, I found yoojin outside the door crying. She was mad at me for spending all this time with minwoo, knowing her feelings for him, and not telling her. I felt my heart break. My best friend, the one who had made my life a lot brighter ever since she first talked to me, was crying because of me. I was about to say something when I felt minwoo's arm slide around my shoulders. He then said to yoojin that me and him were going out. I was so shocked and yoojin ran away crying. I screamed at minwoo. "why did you do that?" he answered, "I thought that maybe this way she'll back off. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it but it seems to be the only way." I can't believe he did that. Now yoojin's going to hate me. As much as I long to be with minwoo, I can't bear to do that to yoojin. Hold on, phone call. I'll be back. WHAT? YOOJIN ISN'T HOME! WHERE CAN SHE BE!

"that night, kei called me up and said that yoojin was missing. So we went out to search for her. But we couldn't find her. We searched for 2-3 hours, but no luck. Kei wanted to continue searching, but we had to go home. We had to go to school the next day.

"I will never forget the next morning. I was walking to school when I found a crowd of people in front of the school pointing to the top of the building I asked what was going on and someone told me that yoojin and kei were on the top roof. My god, I raced up the stairs to the roof and when I got there, right at that moment, right at that second, yoojin disappeared over the edge."

Soo yung gasped.

"kei reached over the ledge after yoojin, screaming her name. I ran over as fast as I could and pulled her back from the ledge before she fell over the ledge too. Kei was hysterical. She was crying and screaming for yoojin. Her usual calm and cool self was totally ballistic. It scared me so much. And I was out of it myself. I had made a girl die because of my stupid mistake. I made kei lose her best friend forever, and I totally screwed up kei's life." Minwoo felt soo yung shake against him. He looked and saw her crying, tears coming out of her eyes. Minwoo brought up his hand and wiped them away.

"I didn't know that kei had gone through all that," soo yung said, "and you. You went through a lot too."

"not as much as kei. Yoojin was very important to her. She was the closest person to her, and I had made yoojin leave kei. That's why I didn't get with you when I found out that you and kei were best friends. All the memories. I didn't want the same thing to happen again. But, I couldn't stay away. And now that I'm with you, I don't know how kei feels. I hope she won't do anything stupid…"

diary. I can't sleep. Yoojin's voice haunts me when I shut my eyes. I see her falling from the roof, and it replays before my eyes over and over and over. I hear her ask, "why didn't you tell me kei? Why? I was your best friend! How could you do this to me?" I tried to explain to her again that it was not true, that me and minwoo were not going out. I tried getting her off the ledge. It was so high from the ground. But she kept screaming back at me, "how come my best friend ends up liking the guy that I love? Why kei? Why did you like minwoo?" I couldn't answer. Her words ripped my heart because they were true. Even though there was nothing going on between me and minwoo and minwoo didn't like me, I couldn't lie and deny that I liked him. I couldn't lie. It was so wrong of me. I didn't dare look at her in the eyes. I hear her last cry and I see her as she took her last breath – falling over the ledge. I ran after her, but she was going away from me. She was leaving me. And she left me. She's gone now…

I can't live now. I took away yoojin's life. Against all the friendship she gave to me, all the love, all the life, I stole it all away. It wasn't minwoo's fault that she died, it wasn't the lie that he told her. It is the fact that I had like minwoo too. I murdered yoojin.

I can't face school anymore. I can't face anyone anymore. I can't face life anymore. I want to join yoojin. I don't want to live when yoojin's not living anymore. It's killing me inside…

Chapter 20

"after that day, kei never came to the dance gym anymore. She looked real bad. She totally shut everyone out. There were rumors going around saying that kei had pushed yojin off the roof. I was so mad, having people talk about kei like that. No one knew anything, yet they were spreading lies. But I was more concerned about kei. She avoided me. I tried talking to her, but she always ran away from me. kei moved away after a month or so. I heard that she went to counseling in another city or something. I missed kei during my last 2 years of high school. I tried a couple times to dance in the dance room myself, but it wasn't the same without her. I would never have guessed that 3 years later I would see her again. She totally avoids me now, but I understand. I'm the one who caused her a lot of grief. Kei must hate my guts now, no doubt. Everytime she sees me, she turns the other way because she sees her best friend's murderer."

Soo yung snuggled in closer against minwoo. "it wasn't your fault."

"I feel responsible for everything tho. I can never make up to kei what I took from her. I will never be forgiven. If I hadn't lied to yoojin and dragged kei into it too, yoojin might be alive today and kei wouldn't hate me."

"so what do you plan to do?"

"I don't know. I really don't know. That night at the club, I had asked kei to forgive me. Instead I ended up making her cry and run out of the club."

It was then that soo yung began to cry because of her misunderstanding of minwoo and kei. "I can't believe I thought that you and kei were going out behind my back…I'm a horrible friend too…"

Minwoo hugged her. "it's oki. It's oki. You didn't know."

Soo yung cried in minwoo's arms. She cried for her stupidity…for minwoo…for kei…

hyesung looked up from the diary. He heaved a sad sigh. "poor keikei. She's been through a lot." Hyesung looked at a picture of kei on her desk. It was a picture of her and soo yung. Next to soo yung's beaming face, kei had a tight-lipped smile. Her eyes were still twinkling in the picture. "all that pain she had to go through…" hyesung returned back to the diary. Her life in her new high school was torture for her. She did average in school academically, but she never made any new friends. From what hyesung knew of kei's personality, she probably shunned herself from other people. She was very depressed, despite the counseling she received. Hyesung then came upon an entry before she entered college.

I'm going to college now…alone. But you know. College shall be different. I will start my new life in college. I will leave my past behind. I will always remember you, yoojin, for all that you've done for me, and all the wrongdoing I did to you, but I shall move on. I remember one time yoojin told me about her grandma, how she was real close to yoojin. When yoojin's grandmother died, yoojin said she would stay strong and move on continuing with life. I will do that too. I will become yoojin, live like her, give her life again…

"give her life again huh? Odd, but it kinda makes some sense.

september 11, 2001 For the first time in a long time, I don't feel totally alone. Soo yung is a very nice girl that's pretty, smart, and funny. soo yung's my roomie, and although she's more outgoing and popular than I would ever be, she's really nice to me and treats me as a good friend. She's cool, and she knows a lot of people. She reminds me of yoojin. mebbe that's why I'm drawn to her…

september 13, 2001 Today I was coming out of class when I saw hyesung, soo yung's friend, walking back to the dorm. He was walking by himself. For some reason, I wanted to go walk with him…

"huh? What the heck?" hyesung said out loud, puzzled.

…but I decided against it. A week ago when I first met him, I don't think I gave him a very good impression. He looked so mad when soo yung turned off his computer. Hehe…he looked like a little kid who just had some candy taken from him. But yeah…everytime I try to talk to him now, he kinda yells at me. He really doesn't like me.

"hehe…I guess I am kinda mean." Hyesung continued reading…

diary, I can just cry now. The person that I would least want to see has reappeared in my life. Minwoo goes to this college too. He just enrolled in. and he's hyesung's roomie too, meaning he's just down the hall. Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can handle this. All the memories are coming back to me. Yoojin, the dance sessions afterschool, the school festival, the lie…I thought they would all go away. I've stopped dancing ever since yoojin's death. Dancing would make me think of her…of minwoo. I'm so horrible. Even after yoojin's death, I still think about minwoo. That's why I stopped dancing, to forget everything, so I won't be able to stab her in the back anymore. I owe that much to yoojin.

soo yung and minwoo have been spending a lot of time together lately. Should I be mad? Sad? Upset that minwoo is hanging out with soo yung? Mebbe. But I'm not. I will not care about lee minwoo now, because I am no one to him, and I never was. I have no control over him or his life. I've been trying to avoid them as much as possible. Seeing minwoo makes me think about the past, and seeing soo yung and him together makes me think of yoojin and my betrayal to her. I can't stand seeing them together. I'm afraid that I would do the same thing, repeat my mistake.

Soo yung announced to me today that she and minwoo were going out. I tried to be happy for her, but inside, I can't help but be sad. To think that my best friend was finally with minwoo, but it wasn't yoojin. sweet yoojin. you deserve so much more than what you got…

Hyesung closed the diary. "now I see why keikei is the way she is now. And her whole thing with minwoo." Hyesung looked at his watch. He had been there for half an hour. "I want to read on, but I better get outta here before they come back and catch me." He put the diary back where he found it and snuck out of the room. he walked out of the room with a different impression of kei, the mysterious, distant girl.

Chapter 21

Kei was wandering about the streets. She walked up and down the streets with no destination. She stared into the windows with her red puffy eyes. "it hurts too much. Yoojin, do you know how much I miss you? I thought I could move on, give you life again. But it's so hard. Yoojin, why did you have to leave me in this world? She looked into a window and found herself looking into a coffeeshop. Inside the shop next to the window, a guy sitting in a booth looked up. Kei found dongwan staring back at her. Dongwan smiled at first but when he saw kei's red eyes, a look of concern came upon his face. He got up and walked outside.

"kei? What's wrong?"

kei looked up at dongwan. She brushed away her tears. "nothing, nothing at all. I'm fine right now."

Dongwan crossed his eyebrows at her. "why don't we go inside first?" he took her by the arm and led her into the coffeeshop. They both sat down at the table he was originally at. "you want something to drink?" he asked. Kei shook her head. But dongwan didn't heed to it. "no, you look like you need something to freshen you up. Want some tea? The tea here's pretty good?" without waiting for an answer, he went and got her a glass of tea. He placed the tea in front of her and sat back down. "drink it. It's raspberry brewed tea. The real stuff. And real good."

Kei took a sip of the tea. The hot liquid flowed down her throat. It did the trick; the tea warmed her body in an instant. "thanks. I don't have money on me now. I'll pay you back later," she said.

"don't even worry about it. So…what's up? You didn't look too good outside."

"I'm fine."

"I know you're not. You got me curious. I have to find out now."

Kei looked up at dongwan. She saw the look of concern in his eyes.

"I think you look like the person that needs to let out some stress. You know it's not good to bottle everything inside. You might end up like the people in our psych textbook."

Kei laughed at dongwan's comment and looked up at him. She contemplated what she should do. Her reserved nature was holding her back, yet the soft caring look on dongwan's face was drawing her in and weakening her. She cleared her throat. "I dunno. I've just had a rough day."

"obviously. That's not hard to figure out."

Kei sipped her tea again.

"guy problems?" dongwan asked. kei nearly choked on her tea. Dongwan smiled at her reaction. "that must be it. Your boyfriend giving you problems?"

"my boyfriend?"

"that guy from this afternoon."

"oh…oh no, he's not my boyfriend."

"really? Thought you guys were going out."

"no. he hates my guts."

"really? Then why did he ask to walk you home?"

"don't ask. I still haven't figured that out myself yet."

Dongwan laughed. It was a pleasant laugh and it loosened kei up even more.

"so…then what's bothering you?" dongwan asked again.

Kei bit her lip. She started to get uncomfortable.

Dongwan saw her uneasiness and sat back in his seat. "oki, you don't have to tell me…now. Just know that you now have someone to talk to, oki?"

Kei looked back at donwan. He flashed her a soft smile, and she relaxed again. She nodded. "thanks."

"no problem. So how did you end up in this area?"

"I was just wandering around aimlessly…"

kei and dongwan continued to converse in the coffeeshop. Kei found dongwan to be a friendly and open guy who had a pleasant aura about him. His appearance, though big and masculine, was very welcoming and imperceptibly soft, and kei was drawn to that. His smile relaxed her, and she became very comfortable with him.

Soo yung and minwoo walked back to soo yung's room. soo yung opened the door and found her room empty. "minwoo, she's not back yet!"

"oh no…where could she have gone?"

"I don't know…" soo yung became very worried.

"hey, you guys are back." Minwoo and soo yung turned around and found hyesung at the door wiping his wet hair with a towel. "took you guys long enough. I finished my homework and showered while you guys were gone."

"hyesung, did kei come back yet?" soo yung asked.

"huh? Wasn't she with you guys?" hyesung asked.

"she was.." soo yung trailed off.

Hyesung shifted his gaze from soo yung to minwoo. Minwoo felt an inert power from hyesung's glare that he couldn't describe, but it made him very uncomfortable. Hyesung then wrapped his towel around his shoulders. "let's go look for her," hyesung said. "we shouldn't all be standing here while she's out there roaming the streets. If anything happens to her, how can we forgive ourselves?"

Soo yung nodded. "right. Let's go look for her." Minwoo nodded too.

"aite. Lemme go get a jacket and some shoes first," hyesung said, and he ran down the hall to his room.

"see, he's such a pal when he's not a moron," soo yung said.

"yeah…he is," minwoo said. But inside, he was still shook up from hyesung's stare.

"who is? What's going on?"

soo yung and minwoo turned around and found kei standing behind them with someone behind her.

"kei!" soo yung cried and she threw her arms around kei.

"whoa! Soo yung," kei said, being thrown off balance by soo yung's sudden hug.

"don't ever scare me like that again! Don't you ever run out on me like that!" soo yung cried. "where in the world did you go?"

"you're…chok…ing…me…."

"oh!" soo yung let go of kei and kei gasped for breath.

"where were you?" minwoo asked.

When kei got her breath back, she straightened herself up. "I, um, just walked around. I ended up downtown. I bumped into dongwan and he brought me back here."

"dongwan?" soo yung looked behind kei and saw dongwan standing behind kei. He saw soo yung and smiled. "hey soo yung."

"hi dongwan."

"long time no see."

"yeah, long time no see…"

oh that's right, hyesung said that dongwan and soo yung used to go out before. That's how they know each other, kei thought to herself. kei turned around to dongwan. "thanks for walking me home."

"no problem," dongwan said.

"let's go! I'm ready!" hyesung's voice called out. He was coming towards the group when he spotted kei. "hey keikei, you're back!" he then looked and saw dongwan behind her. A frown set upon his face. "dongwan?"

"hey hyesung. I haven't seen you for a long time," dongwan said.

"not long enough," hyesung muttered inaudibly under his breath.

"well, I'm real tired now. I'm gonna go to sleep."

"oki," dongwan said. "I'll see you tomorrow in class, oki?"

"yup. Nite dongwan."

"nite kei." Dongwan looked up at the other three. "bye soo yung, bye hyesung, bye, um…"

"minwoo," minwoo said. "nice to meet you dongwan. And thanks for bringing kei home."

"my pleasure. Nite everyone." And dongwan walked down the hall.

Kei looked up. Minwoo had his arm around soo yung's waist and he was looking at soo yung, who was looking at the ground. Kei spotted a tinge of hurt in soo yung's eyes. Kei wanted to comfort soo yung, but she held back. Thinking back to what soo yung said to her earlier, kei didn't know how to approach soo yung. Kei then looked up at hyesung. He was still staring after dongwan, and kei saw a hint of hostility in his eyes. Something's up with him, kei told herself. She cleared her throat. "hey, I'm getting sleepy. Coming in, soo yung?"

Soo yung looked up at kei. "um, yeah. Night hyesung. Night babe." Soo yung kissed minwoo good night and followed kei into the room.

"let's go," minwoo said. Hyesung snapped back into reality and nodded, and they walked back to their room. all of the sudden minwoo felt hyesung's hand on his shoulder. "hmmm?"

"minwoo, can you promise me one thing?"

"what?"

"promise me to never hurt soo yung."

"of course I won't. what makes you think that I would?"

hyesung withdrew his hand. "I dunno. Just promise me you won't."

"I promise." And they both walked into their room.

why did he ask me that? Minwoo thought. Is there something that I don't know?

"kei?"

kei turned around to soo yung. "yeah?"

"how well do you know dongwan?"

kei blinked. Hmmm…her eyes…there's something in them…something musta happened… "um, not real well. I only started talking to him today."

"I see."

Kei got into her pj's. soo yung then walked over and hugged kei, surprising kei. "kei, I'm so sorry."

"for what?" kei asked, a little surprised.

Tears started coming out of soo yung's eyes. "I thought that you were taking minwoo away from me. But I'm so sorry. Minwoo told me everything."

"e-everything?"

"about what happened in the past. I'm so sorry about what happened in the past, about yoojin. minwoo said that she was real close and special to you."

Kei saddened with the thought of yoojin.

"and if I ever lost you, I wouldn't know what to do. Kei, you are to me how yoojin was to you, and nothing will ever change that. Not even minwoo."

Kei hugged soo yung back. "thanks soo yung. That's so comforting to hear."

Soo yung pulled away. "kei, can I ask you something?"

"hmmm?"

"I, um, want to know from you…" soo yung trailed off. She hesitated in what she was about to say. "kei….how…how do you feel towards minwoo?"

kei stared back at soo yung with no apparent expression on her face.

What am I supposed to tell her?

"kei…"

"soo yung…" kei started to say. "don't worry."

"huh?"

"he's all yours."

"what? What do you mean? You mean that you really…"

"soo yung. Minwoo likes you, and that's all that matters. You're the one that had captured his heart. You don't have to worry about anything. I don't think anyone can change his feeling for you."

Soo yung looked at kei. She then let out a sigh. "you're right. I shouldn't be asking you that question. Not only is it not right to you but it's unfair to minwoo. I should trust him more. I'm sorry kei."

Kei shook her head. "it's oki. Go to sleep. It's been a long day."

Soo yung nodded. "yes, let's go to sleep. Nite."

"nite soo yung."

The lights went out in the room. yet, both girls stayed awake. Thoughts running through their heads made them both unable to sleep…

Chapter 22

…soo yung asked me how I felt towards minwoo. I didn't know how to answer her, because I didn't know myself how I felt. Do I still like minwoo?

"dang girl, do you like him or not, make up your mind," hyesung said. He was reading through kei's diary again. Kei and soo yung were at dinner and hyesung had snuck into their room to get soo yung's homework again. He couldn't help but read kei's diary again.

I guess I would be oki if it wasn't for that dance that night. It seemed like everything was coming back to me. Right now, I'm just confused with myself, with my feelings now.

"It's easy. Get over it. Minwoo's NOT all that. Sheesh."

But one thing I know for sure is that no matter what my feelings are, I will not get involved with minwoo ever again. I know I need to keep my distance. He is forbidden property to me now. It's for the best. I'm sure I can move on fine. I will not get involved with minwoo in any way at all, for soo yung's sake.

Hyesung looked at his watch. "dang it. They're going to be back soon. I'm not done yet." He closed the diary and put it back in the drawer. He quickly snuck out of the room and walked towards his room.

10 minutes later, soo yung and kei walked up the stairs to their room.

"hey soo yung. I'm going to be going to the library tonight to research my paper."

"tonight? This late?"

"yeah. Essay's due 3 days from now, and I can't go tomorrow or the day after. Need me to buy anything on the way? I'll stop by the store on the way to buy food or drinks or something."

"mebbe some more water. We're running out."

"oki. That's all?"

"that's all."

"oki. I'm gonna get my stuff now. And I'll be back real late tonight."

"you sure it's oki going alone? Shouldn't you go with someone?"

"no, I'm fine."

"hi guys." Kei and soo yung looked and found hyesung passing by.

"hey," they both greeted back. "where are you going now?" soo yung asked.

"need to buy some stuff from the store."

"oh good. Hey, go with kei too. She needs to buy some water too."

"oh yeah?"

"no it's oki. I have to go to the library too and I'm gonna be there for a while."

"hey, I'll walk you there," hyesung said.

Kei looked back at him with surprised eyes. "are you sure?"

Hyesung smiled and nodded. "I don't mind."

"well I guess you can walk me to the library."

"good. I'm more at ease now," soo yung said.

"lemme go get my stuff first," kei said and walked into the room. it was when kei was inside the room when soo yung took hyesung's arm.

"hyesung, promise me you won't do anything offensive to kei."

"what in the world would I do?"

"don't be mean to her oki?"

"dude, if you thought that I was gonna do something to her, why did you ask me in the first place?"

"gut reaction. You're the only one around."

"yeah yeah. Don't worry about it."

"well, you promise, right?"

"don't worry about it, sheesh."

"oki, I'm ready," kei said, coming out of the room with a backpack.

"let's go then. See ya soo yung," hyesung said, waving.

"bye soo yung," kei waved to soo yung.

"bye you guys. Be careful." And she walked into her room.

hyesung and kei walked out of the dorms.

"so you want to go to the library first or go buy the water first?" hyesung asked.

"let's go to the library first. I have to get started ASAP. I can buy the water on the way back."

"oki."

They continued walking. Kei then smelled a nice pleasant and familiar smell. The shampoo…he must have just showered. She silently smiled to herself at the thought of hyesung using the shampoo. She cleared her throat. "hmmm…hey, what's the smell?"

"hmmm? What smell?"

"I don't know. It smells kinda nice though…" kei sniffed around. "oh, it seems to be coming from your hair."

"hahaha, I think I know what you're smelling. I think you're smelling the shampoo that soo yung got me. It has a strong smell."

"oh." Kei's face dropped a bit, remembering that he thought it was soo yung that had bought the shampoo.

"it's a nice smell though. I really like it. Help me ask soo yung where she got the shampoo."

"yeah, sure," kei mumbled. She continued to walk in silence. After a few minutes, hyesung broke the silence.

"has it ever occurred to you that you're so quiet it's scary?"

"scary?"

"yeah. I can never find out, ahem, what's going on in your head."

"oh I don't think you want to know anyways."

"why you think that? You never know. Mebbe I do. I mean, you can be plotting to kill me or something."

Kei laughed a little. Hyesung smiled at the same time at the dramatic irony of the situation.

They reached the library. "thanks for walking me here. I'll see you later." Kei then turned and disappeared into the library.

Hyesung walked to a nearby store and picked up some snacks. He also bought a case of water.

He then walked back towards the library. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to go into the library with all the food he had, he picked a spot on the lawn outside, pulled out a notebook, and started writing in it.

Halfway into her research, kei's mind began to wander. Why did he agree to walking me to the library? And he was actually a little bit nicer than usual. Hmmmm… she returned to her studies.

Time passed. Kei looked up at the clock and saw that it was a little past 11pm. She packed up her stuff and left the library. "I guess I will have to buy water tomorrow. The store's closed now."

She stepped out of the library and made her way down the concrete steps. She stopped in her tracks. She turned around and saw someone sleeping on the lawn with grocery bags under the head and both arms.

"hyesung?"

kei walked up to hyesung. He was laying in midst of the grocery bags with his jacket covering his body for warmth. he stayed here? Waiting for me? Why? she gazed upon his sleeping face. Like that night at the park, his face was illuminated by the moonlight and was even paler and whiter than its natural color. He needs a tan…but he looks so…peaceful…like an angel…

…like a devilish angel…

kei bent down and lightly shook hyesung. "hyesung. Hyesung wake up."

Hyesung stirred. He opened his eyes and found kei staring back at him.

Those eyes…those beautiful eyes…are staring at me…

Hyesung hurried to his feet. "whoops. Musta dozed off there."

Kei smiled at hyesung. "you were waiting for me?"

Hyesung reached up at scratched his head. "no not really. I just didn't want to go back yet so I just hung out here for a bit."

"oh I see," kei said, a little disappointment in her voice.

"besides, a girl shouldn't be wandering around the streets alone at night."

"why didn't you go into the library then? It's so cold out here."

"not with all this stuff." Hyesung pointed to all his groceries behind him.

Kei spotted the case of water. Hyesung spoke, "yeah, I figured that the store would close by the time you come out so I went ahead and bought the water for ya so soo yung won't complain about dehydration."

Kei once again became disappointed when hyesung mentioned soo yung. She reached into her bag and pulled out some money. "here, let me pay you back…"

"no silly. I don't want you to pay me back."

"why not?" kei looked at hyesung surprised. He doesn't want me to pay him back? Is he being generous now? Why does this guy always make me wonder if I'm actually talking to the same person every time.

Hyesung smiled. "I'd rather have you buy me lunch or something."

Kei's eyes lightened up. "oki! I'll treat you to lunch!"

Hyesung let out a small laugh. "let's go. The wind's starting to blow harder."

They walked back to the dorms in silence.

They reached the dorms and walked to kei's room.

"night. thanks for waiting for me," kei thanked. "and thanks for the water too."

"yeah whatever." Hyesung dropped the case of water outside her door. "now remember, you owe me lunch."

Kei nodded. "how about tomorrow after class? Meet me outside the psych building. We can have lunch at the café nearby there, oki?"

"sounds good to me. Night." hyesung walked to his room.

"night…" kei let herself into her room. she found soo yung already sleeping, so kei quietly placed the case of water bottles next to the fridge and got ready for bed. When she was dressed I her pj's, she plopped herself onto her bed and pulled out her notebook.

Hey diary. You know, I'm so confused now. I just got back from the library…with hyesung. Weird huh? I think so too. I just find it odd. What makes it even more strange is that he didn't make any rude commetns to me. He was actually nice to me. And you know…I really like this side of him better…

Kei looked at what she just wrote. she then took her pen and…

The next morning…

"what the heck?" hyesung exclaimed. "why is this whole section crossed out?"

chapter 23

kei sat through her psychology class, fully paying attention to the professor. She felt a little more attentive today. She was also watching the clock, waiting for it to let the class out.

"psst." Kei looked to her right and saw dongwan looking at her. he then slid a piece of paper in front of her and turned back towards the professor. Kei read the scribble message on the note.

MIDTERM JUST PASSED. ARE YOU FREE AFTER CLASS TODAY? WANT TO GO GET THAT COFFEE?

kei looked at it and was a bit surprised. She faced dongwan agains, who didn't turn towards her, but kei saw a slight smile on his face. Kei took her pen and scribbled on the paper herself. She then passed the note back to dongwan. Dongwan glanced at the note.

NO I CAN'T MAKE IT TODAY. SORRY.

Dongwan's lips formed into a little pout. Kei saw this and silently laughed to herself. She reached over and took the piece of paper back. She scribbled on it again and passed it back to him.

HOW ABOUT SATURDAY? I'M FREE THE WHOLE DAY.

Dongwan's eyes lightened up. Still looking forward at the professor, he signaled an OK sign under his desk to kei. Kei smiled and returned her gaze to the professor. However, he attention from before had disappeared.

Why did I easily give in like that? Even with soo yung, I usually put up a fight before agreeing upon going somewhere with someone. Why is dongwan different?

Class ended and the students left the hall. Kei gathered her stuff and headed towards the door. She found dongwan waiting at the door for her. they headed out the door together.

"so Saturday you're free the whole day? How about we do something else then?" dongwan suggested.

"like what?" kei asked, surprised. What else could he possibly want to do with me?

"ummm…I dunno. Mebbe go see a movie or something."

"a movie?" kei grew kinda uneasy.

"don't like movies?" dongwan asked.

"no, I love movies."

"You don't have to do anything else do you? I thought you said you were free the whole day."

"no I'm free. I, um, guess we can go for a movie too."

"great." They reached outside the building. "want me to pick you up at 11 o'clock then? We can go for lunch then."

"sure."

"great. I guess the next time I'll see you will be then." He smiled and waved. He then went of his way.

Kei watched as he walked away in a bewildered state.

Hyesung had arrived at the psych building 10 minutes early and was sitting outside waiting for kei. He still wondered about kei's diary entry.

"hmmm…I know I should stop picking their room lock. I know I should stop reading kei's diary. But for some reason, I can't NOT read it…it's like I NEED to read it, to know what she's thinking…" he told himself.

Students began coming out of the building and hyesung looked up to find kei. Hundreds of students came out but still no kei. "where is she? Did she forget?"

the flow of students coming out started to lessen. Hyesung scratched his head. "I'm pretty sure she's in class today."

The last two people came out of the building. Hyesung saw kei and he smiled. "finally…" then the person that was holding the door open for her came out. "…dongwan?" hyesung observed their facial expressions. Dongwan was smiling very brightly while kei had a doubtful but soft smile of her own.

There was no longer a smile on hyesung's face.

Dongwan waved and left. Kei turned and looked around. She spotted hyesung and headed in his direction.

"hey, you're here already," she quietly commented as she approached him. She had a bright smile on her face.

Hyesung returned her smiled with a tight frown. Kei saw this and her smile disappeared. "is something wrong?"

Hyesung shook his head. "no, let's go," he said in a slightly cold tone. He got up and started walking off.

Kei's insides dropped. She saw that the hyesung now wasn't the hyesung that had waited for her outside the library last night…

The café was 3 blocks away. They walked together in silence.

"has it ever occurred to you that you're so quiet it's scary?"

"scary?"

"yeah. I can never find out, ahem, what's going on in your head."

"oh I don't think you want to know anyways."

"why you think that? You never know. Mebbe I do. I mean, you can be plotting to kill me or something."

kei looked up at hyesung. He was looking straight forward. He was unusually quiet himself. Kei surprisingly found herself wanting to break the silence.

"um…you didn't have class today right? So how was your morning?" she asked timidly.

Hyesung didn't turn to face her. "boring."

"play computer games again? I didn't think that would be boring for you." kei put a smile on her face.

"I haven't played computer games for a while now."

"really? How come?"

hyesung just shrugged.

"so what did you do all morning then?"

hyesung didn't answer right away. He thought back to kei's diary. He then turned to face kei and stared at her in the eyes. Her bewitching eyes. "slept."

"oh yeah. I kinda kept you out a little late last night." she looked away. Hyesung saw a look of guilt in her eyes. The firmness that he had inside him before softened and he smiled. "naw, we didn't stay out that late. I go to sleep real late anyways."

They finally reached the café. They went in and seated themselves at a table.

They gave their orders to the waitress and waited for their food. Silence again.

"hey, I never found out what your major was," kei said.

Hyesung too a sip of his pepsi. "music."

"really? That's great. I was thinking of taking that as my major too," kei said softly.

"it's a fun major. I'm doubling it with business too, so I can try to build up a music production company."

"wow. Big dreams."

"sort of. So what's your major? Psychology?"

"yeah. But I don't think about it now."

"why not?"

"I'm not doing too well in that class. I don't think I'm a psych person."

"then why are you still taking that class? Why did you pick it?"

kei didn't answer. To understand people more, so I won't kill off another best friend. She just shrugged. "I dunno. There's nothing that I'm really good at really."

"no, I'm sure there is something. You just don't realize it yet."

"no, there's really nothing I'm good at."

Hmmm…I know of something…

Their food arrived. A club sandwich was put in front of hyesung and an avocado-turkey sandwich in front of kei.

"ooh, that looks good," kei said, looking hyesung's sandwich.

"want the other half?" he took out half of his sandwich and placed it on her plate.

"whoa. I didn't think you'd be so willing to give up half your sandwich." Kei looked down at her plate and saw that her whole sandwich was gone. "what the?" she looked up and saw that hyesung had swiped her sandwich.

"hey!"

hyesung smiled. "you said it looked good."

"but I only get half a sandwich now?"

"awww, don't complain. Besides, you're paying for the lunch right? I might as well make the most of it." He then grinned and picked up the sandwich to take a bite out of it.

"sigh. Well, I guess I shouldn't eat as much anyways. I'm so fat," kei said.

Hyesung stopped in mid-bite and looked at kei. "aww kei. I didn't mean anything mean that time when I said that you had a lot of meat."

Kei shook her head. "it's oki. I don't take any offense. I know it's true."

Hyesung heaved a sigh. He took half of the swiped sandwich and placed it back on kei's plate. "hehe, I was just messing with you. I wasn't going to eat the whole thing."

Kei looked at hyesung with a tight-lipped smile. "hehe, it's oki. I'm not REAL hungry anyways." She looked back down at the sandwiches, not touching either.

"yah, I always seem to upset you in some way or the other. Come on, eat." He took a half-sandwich and bit into it. A moment later, kei picked up hers and started eating.

"see, that's a good girl. Now keep eating."

She seemed to laugh, but not vocally for her mouth was full. Her eyes looked as if they were doing the laughing. She then resumed her eating.

They finished their sandwiches. Hyesung looked up at kei. "I want dessert. You want some?"

Kei nodded. They looked at the dessert menu on the table.

"mud pie! Oh that stuff is good!" hyesung exclaimed.

Kei smiled. "that's what I want," she said in her quiet voice.

"great!" he hauled down their server and asked for 2 mud pies. The server left to go get the orders.

"ooh, I can just taste it now. Oreo crust, coffee ice cream, peanut butter lining, WHIPPED CREAM! Aaahhh! I'm getting antsy now. Me gonna get a slice ALL to myself," hyesung licked his lips and rubbed his hands. Kei quietly aughed at his amusing appearance.

The server came back. "I'm sorry, we only have one slice of mud pie left. Did you want a slice of some other pie instead? Apple pie? Cherry pie?"

Hyesung made a face. "I only want mud pie though."

The server looked at kei. She shook her head.

"so do you still want that mud pie?"

"yes please," hyesung said. "we'll share that one slice."

The server left and brought back the slice of mud pie. "oh I forgot to get you guys an extra plate and fork. I'll be back with them." She left again.

The two eyed the slice of pie on the table. Kei saw hyesung stick out his tongue and lick his lips. His fingers were impatiently drumming next to his fork. Kei silently laughed to herself at his appearance.

A few minutes passed by and no server came back. The ice cream started to become soft.

"man, where is that plate? The ice cream's melting," hyesung said.

"go ahead and eat it. This lunch is for you anyways."

"no we can't do that," hyesung insisted, but a mischievous twinkle played upon his eyes, betraying his last sentence. "oh I can't wait anymore!" he took his fork and swiftly scooped a bit of the pie and placed it in his mouth. He closed his eyes. Kei laughed at his child-like behavior.

"mmmmm…oh this is GOOD! Oh you have to try this!" he scooped another piece and held it out to her. "try it!" but before he could catch himself, he had stretched too far and the chunk of pie mashed against her face.

"yah!" kei cried. Hyesung looked at her in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth in an o-shape. Whipped cream, coffee ice cream and oreo crumbs were stuck on her uppoer lip. Hyesung's lips started to curve up.

"pu…pu..PUHAHAHAHAH!" he loudly laughed. "oh my gosh, you look like you have a mustache now! A santa claus with a dirty beard!"

kei just sheepishly smiled back at hyesung. She wiped the cream off of her lip with her fingers and licked the cream off of them. She smiled. "mmm…this is good…"

hyesung finally calmed down. "heheh, I'm sorry. Guess I kinda missed huh."

"yeah, you kinda did."

"hehe…oh wait."

Kei looked up at hyesung. "what?"

"you still have some whipped cream on your face." He reached over towards kei. With his index finger, he lightly wiped a spot of cream off of her nose. Kei's hand instantly went up and touched her nose. Her eyes then looked up at hyesung. Hyesung looked up at kei. He took the cream on his finger and licked it. Kei looked at hyesung in slight surprise. The little gesture somehow triggered an unexplainable feeling within her. an intense silence fell upon the two.

Hyesung then smiled. "ready to go?"

kei returned his smile with a small one of her own. "let's go."

They both left the restaurant. Kei had a mix of emotions swimming in her head.

Chapter 24

Knock knock.

Soo yung looked up and saw minwoo at the door. "come in minwoo."

Minwoo walked into the room over to soo yung who was sitting at her desk. "hey babe. You needed help on history?"

"yeah. Dumb dates. Can't remember them."

"yeah. It's been a while since we've had one too," minwoo smiled.

Soo yung rolled her eyes. "that was lame. But I know what you mean. It's just that I've been so busy with school lately. All my midterms are coming at the same time."

"oki, you're forgiven. When's your last midterm?"

"this Friday."

"perfect. How about we go out and celebrate Friday night?"

soo yung smiled. "alright."

Minwoo smiled and wrapped his arms around soo yung's shoulders. "I finally have a date with my girlfriend. I don't even think I remember how a date is."

Soo yung smiled.

All of the sudden, some loud laughter sounded outside in the hallway. Soo yung and minwoo looked at each other. "sounds like…" soo yung started to say.

"…hyesung…" minwoo finished. They both got up and walked over to the door. Sure enough, hyesung was outside, walking towards the rooms.

"who's that with him?" soo yung asked, squinting to see the figure walking next to hyesung.

"looks like…kei…"

"kei? Are you sure?"

"mmmm…yep… that looks like her alright."

"since when did they ever walk home together? And laughing too?"

"beats me."

Hyesung and kei reached the girls' room and found minwoo and soo yung at the door.

"hey you two," hyesung greeted while kei waved.

"hey you guys," soo yung and minwoo greeted back. Soo yung looked at her watch. "hey, it's 3 already. Doesn't psych class end at 12 for you, kei?"

"yeah," kei answered quietly.

"so…why are you back so late?" soo yung asked with a mischievous grin.

Kei began to grow uncomfortable at soo yung's prying.

"aww come on soo yung, stop teasing keikei. You can see that she's getting all nervous and stuff. She doesn't have the guts to say that we went out for lunch."

Soo yung's and minwoo's eyes widened simultaneously. "you two went out for lunch?" soo yung asked in disbelief.

"yeah. What's wrong with that?" hyesung asked. "it's better than what you two were probably doing in there. What were you two doing, indecent stuff?" hyesung countered.

"what are you thinking you nasty pervert. Minwoo came over to help me with my homework. Can't remember dates," soo yung answered.

"eww. The reason why I don't plan to be a historian," hyesung remarked.

"got that right. Not like I want to take history. Dumb GE classes. Sucks to not know what major I want," soo yung said.

"yup yup. At least I know what I want," hyesung said.

"yeah yeah, that music company of yours. Hey, mebbe we can become partners and I get 50 profit," soo yung smiled.

"oh UH UH! No way you're gonna get 50!" hyesung protested.

"you want to open a music company?" minwoo asked.

"yup yup. I'm gonna start a music productions company that will take over the world! Muahahah!" hyesung proudly proclaimed.

"good stuff. You seem to be the musical kinda guy."

"yup…he's always going 'LA LA LA LA!' heehee!" soo yung laughed. "oh wait! I know! Minwoo, let's go karaoke on Friday! I feel like croaking into the mike myself!"

minwoo looked at her and nodded in agreement.

"hey, no way you two are going to go without me!" hyesung protested. "I'm going too!"

"is that oki?" soo yung asked minwoo.

Minwoo shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Soo yung looked at kei. "kei, you come too."

Kei looked up. She had been quiet during the whole discssion up until now. Kei glanced at minwoo and hyesung.

"um…sure, I guess I'll go," kei said.

Three pairs of eyes opened in surprise. They had expected her to say no like usual. Soo yung broke out into a jump for joy. "oh you're really going to go too? Oh this is great! I'm so happy now!"

Kei shyly smiled. "it's not that big of a deal."

"of course it is! How often is it that I get to go out with my buddy?" soo yung giggled. She then let out a moan. "now I have to make it through these dumb midterms."

"yeah come on. let's hit the books soo yung. You're gonna ace that midterm," minwoo said as he ushered soo yung back into the room.

"sigh. Guess I shouldn't go in there to bother them," kei said quietly to herself.

"wanna come to my room then?" hyesung said. Kei looked up at hyesung in surprise. She didn't think that he hear her. he started walking off to his rom and kei followed after him. She entered the room. it was the second time she had set foot into the room, the first time being the first she came to the dorms. She looked around the room.

the room was not quite as decorated as her own room. unlike her room which had soo yung's posters pasted all over the walls, the guys didn't have much on their walls. Kei looked at the beds and found them untidy and well slept in. she glanced to her right at a desk, minwoo's desk. It had the bare minimum on his desk: a computer, some pens, books, and binders. The only object on it that wasn't related to school was a picture of minwoo and soo yung taped onto the wall above the desk.

Kei then looked to the other side of the room, hyesung's side.

Hyesung's side of the room was the exact opposite of minwoo's bare half. Hyesung's side was packed with different stuff, especially around the desk area. Two CD towers stood in between the bed and the desk, all in an organized clutter. Kei saw several music staff sheets at random spots on the desk. Something under the desk caugh her eye. It was a keyboard.

Hyesung plopped down in his chair and turned on his computer. He swirled around and faced kei. "don't mind the mess. I just have a lot of stuff and am too lazy to pick it all up now."

Kei shook her head. She walked over and sat down on hyesung's bed. She started to browse through the CD's in the towers. There was one section in one of the towers where unfamiliar titles appeared before her eyes.

Hyesung looked and saw the questioning look on her face. "oh, you won't know a whole lot of those CD's. if you want real Cd's, I have them here." He pulled out a separate CD wallet. "most of those are other stuff…"

"what sorta stuff?" kei asked.

"they're, um, songs that I wrote," hyesung said.

Kei's eyes opened in surprise. "you write songs?"

Hyesung nodded. "yeah, ones that I make on my computer. You think all I do on the computer is play starcraft 24/7? Well sure, but I also mess around with my MIDI instruments and other instruments."

"I see," kei said, running her finger along the CD cases in the towers.

"here, I think you'd rather hear these." hyesung handed her the CD wallet, but kei didn't open the wallet.

"can i…hear one of your CD's?" she asked.

Hyesung looked at kei, surprised. "you sure? They're really bad though."

Kei smiled and shook her head. "I'm sure they're really good. I want to hear."

Hyesung raised an eyebrow. "oki then. But I'm warning you, it's gonna make you go deaf." He leant over and scanned his small eyes over his cd's. he then pulled out one CD and poppped it into the computer. He reached over and adjusted the volume of the speakers.

A light and brisk melody started to play from the melody. Kei listened intently to the music filling the room. for the next few moments, kei followed along the flow of the sweet melody of hyesung's composition, his effort and emotion. She subconsciously smiled.

After the song ended, hyesung stopped the CD. "ew, I just realized how bad that was. How could I have come up with that?"

"no, I thought that that was really good."

"it sounds weird."

"mebbe you should change it to G minor. It should give it a more mysterious feeling to it."

Hyesung looked at kei in surprise. "g minor?" he swiftly turned to the computer and rapidly punched at the keys on the keypad.

The song played again, only this time with different notes. The change in the key indeed made the piece more mysterious and creepy, and kei felt a little chill down her spine as she listened to the revised composition.

Hyesung smiled in satisfaction at the computer screen with twinkling eyes. "wow, that sounds so much better! Oh I LIKE! I like!"

Kei smiled at hyesung's excitement.

Hyesung then pulled out another CD and popped it in. "listen to this one and see if you can hear what can be done to this one." The music played through the speakers, another upbeat melody, this one with a different character than the first. Kei closed her eyes and listened to the song. She could feel her body slightly move to the beat of the song, the song tempting her body to dance.

The song came to an end. "well," hyesung asked. "what do you think?"

Kei opened her eyes. "I didn't hear anything wrong with this one."

Hyesung frowned. "I still think it sounds weird."

Kei smiled. "everyone's their own critic. Have you written any lyrics for your songs?"

hyesung shook his head. "been meaning to, but too busy with homework. Um, copying it, that is," hyesung laughed, scratching the back of his neck.

Kei gave a small laugh. "those were real good. It's no wonder that you're majoring in music. You're really talented."

"thank you thank you. professor doesn't like my music though," hyesung said as he stared into the computer screen, checking his email. He popped in an As One CD.

"really? Why not?"

"says they're too underdeveloped. Not sophisticated enough."

"but that's what makes them good. They're simple, not cluttered or anything," kei commented.

Hyesung shrugged. "so I'm not in for the in-depth message junk that he goes for."

"heh. I think that any song has a message to it."

"whatever. Once I build my company, the professor's not going to be in my thank-you speech."

Kei smiled. "you're really set on getting that company."

Hyesung shrugged. "or whatever. I thought about being a songwriter, but I figured having my own company would make more money."

"yeah I guess."

They sat in the room, listening to as one's 'day by day." Kei closed her eyes and listened to the soft harmony of crystal's and minkyung's voices.

10 minutes later, hyesung sent his last reply email and signed off his acocunt. He then spun around in his chair and looked at kei, who had fallen asleep. She was in a sitting position with her feet on the bed and back against the wall. Hyesung scratched his head. "how in the world can she sleep like that?" he gazed at her.

before, hyesung found kei's eyes to be the only attractive feature among her plain appearance. Now with her eyes closed, he focused on her other features. Her hair reached to its full lenth to the middle of her back, and the short layers framed her round face. Her round cheeks complemented her fully-shaped lips which were now slightly parted while she breathed. Her lips were unlike the thin and shaped lips of most girls that he knew. With all her features combined, she didn't look like any other girl. She didn't dress like the typical girl either. Instead of a mature and sensuous look, she had a more innocent and comfortable look. Comfortable would be the word to describe kei's overall appearance. Except for the one night at the club, hyesung always saw kei dressed in loose clothes. T-shirts, loose tanks, wide-leg jeans, big jackets. Not even flared pants. Her look didn't go to the extreme of a tomboy-appearance, though it was pretty close. However, her comfortable look did give off a comfortable feeling.

Now only if she acted comfortably and talked more, he thought to himself. She was a little better just now, talking a little more about music. But she's still too quiet. The only way I ever get to know how she feels is through her diary.

He walked over and ever so slightly guided her body so she was laying down on his bed in a more comfortable position. He took the blanket and covered her up. He then returned back to his computer. He faced kei's sleeping body and gazed upon her sleeping face. He then reached under his desk and pulled out his keyboard…

An hour later…

Hyesung stretched and leaned back in his chair. He turned and looked at kei who was still sleeping peacefully in the bed. He then got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.

He headed towards the restroom and on his way there, minwoo and soo yung came out of the girls' room.

"hyesung!" they said.

"hey you two. Done studying history, or each other?" he joked.

"ew, hyesung!" soo yung playfully slapped hyesung on the arm.

"where's kei?" soo yung asked.

"she's sleeping in my bed now."

"whoa hyesung!" minwoo cried surprised, smiling.

"shut up fool. She just fell asleep and she's better off sleeping in my bed than yours, knowing how much yours stinks."

"hey, I don't stink!" minwoo protested.

"yeah, my baby doesn't stink," soo yung said, giving minwoo a kiss on the cheek.

Hyesung giave a smirk and rolled his eyes. "I gotta go take a leak." He headed to the restroom.

Minwoo and soo yung laughed. Soo yung then turned to minwoo. "you think…hyesung and kei…?"

"haha…I dunno…they're both so different though…"

"yeah I know…but…I think it would be good for the both of them. I mean, hyesung's never had a girlfriend, and kei, well, that whole thing with yoojin and…"

minwoo eyes went downcast. "yeah, it would…" for some reason, minwoo felt a wringing feeling inside. Something just didn't feel right…

her eyes slowly opened. She stared at a plain ceiling, but for some reason, it didn't seem to look right. She rolled to her side and looked around the room, finding herself not in her own room. it then came to her that she was in minwoo and hyesung's room.

lying on the side of her face, her nose was against the pillow and she smelled a pleasant smell. The shampoo, she thought to herself. A warm feeling developed within her body. She then sat up in the bed.

"oh my gosh, I fell asleep," she muttered to herself. She then looked around and found herself alone in the room. she got out of the bed, slipped on her shoes, and walked out of the room.

she walked down the hallyway and spotted soo yung and minwoo standing outside her room. she walked up to them.

"hey kei," they both greeted.

"hi you guys," she answered back.

"have a nice sleep?" minwoo asked. Kei gave a small smile and nodded.

"haha. What did hyesung do to you?" soo yung asked, looking at kei's hair. Kei straightened her hair. It was messy from sleeping.

Soo yung quieted down her laughing. "I'm sorry kei. I was just teasing."

Kei forced a smile. Without a word, she walked into the room.

Soo yung pulled minwoo's arm. "hey," she whispered. "you notice that she was blushing?"

"um, I didn't notice," minwoo said softly.

Soo yung smiled. "you know…those two should really get together." She had a little twinkle in her eye.

Minwoo looked at her questioningly. "what do you plan to do?"

soo yung broke out into a mischievous grin. "something…"

Chater 25

"yes, I have survived!" soo yung cried as she waltzed into the room.

kei, who was laying down in bed, raised her head up and looked at soo yung. "I see the midterm went well?"

soo yung playfully scoffed. "ha! Who said it went well? I just said that I survived. Nothing about it going well."

Kei smiled and laid her head back down.

Soo yung let out a small chuckle. "of course I did, silly. I had to do well on the midterm, or else we wouldn't be going karaoke-ing tonight."

"how do we know that you're not just lying just so we'd go out tonight?"

"with all that studying I did with minwoo, I better have done well."

"so where's minwoo? Didn't he take the test too?"

"yeah. He's back. He's gone back to his room."

"I see." Kei closed her eyes.

Knock knock.

Soo yung and kei turned towards the door. Minwoo poked his head into the room. "hey girls."

"hey babe," soo yung greeted happily. Kei waved.

"I suggest you two get ready now. We're gonna leave for the karaoke bar soon."

"oki, we'll be ready in 20 minutes, oki?" soo yung said.

Minwoo nodded and then left, closing the door behind him.

Soo yung turned to kei. "let's get ready lazybutt. Get up and get changed."

Kei got up from her bed and walked over to her closet.

"oh kei," soo yung said, and kei turned around to face soo yung. "I bought this shirt, but it's too big for me. You want it?" soo yung held up a pink tank top.

Kei looked at soo yung, raising one eyebrow. "pink? I don't usually wear pink."

Soo yung pouted. "why not? I think you would look cute in pink."

Kei shook her head.

"come on kei. I don't want to go return this. Think of this as a gift."

Kei looked at soo yung. Soo yung was real insistent on kei accepting the shirt. Kei walked over and took the shirt from soo yung. "um, thanks soo yung."

Soo yung smiled. "no problem. Why don't you wear it today?"

kei looked at soo yung with wide eyes. "today?"

"yeah! Oh, I have some pants that would look real nice with that shirt too." Soo yung walked over and pulled out a pair of white pants. She held it out to kei. "go ahead and borrow these today."

Kei looked at soo yung. She then slowly got changed into the outfit.

"they said 20 minutes, right?"

"yeah. You know girls."

"one more minute and I'm leaving."

"aw come on hyesung. Have a little patience."

Hyesung grumbled.

The door then opened and soo yung stepped out in a light blue tank top and white capri pants. Minwoo smiled and held out his arms to her. she went into his arms and kissed him on the cheek. "you look great," he whispered to her. she smiled up in appreciation to him.

Kei then stepped out of the room in her outfit. She was in the pink top and the white pants with white sneakers and her hair loose and resting on her shoulders. She turned around to lock the door. Hyesung stared at her back with wide eyes. A little change in her clothes and she looked more feminine than before. Minwoo, out of soo yung's vision, also looked at kei's look with wide eyes.

Kei turned around. "hi you guys," she greeted in her usual quiet voice.

"hi kei," hyesung asked. Kei grew uneasy as she saw hyesung's eyes scan her up and down. "you look, uh, different…" hyesung said.

Kei didn't answer.

Soo yung spoke up. "dun kei look pretty today? I curled her hair and gave her my shirt. She looks cute in pink, don't you think?"

"yup. You look like a little kid," hyesung said.

Kei frowned and look away.

Hyesung smiled and let out a small laugh. "I'm just playing with you. you look nice today. Let's go." He took her by the arm and led her down the hallway.

Soo yung smiled to herself. This is working out great, she thought to herself.

Minwoo, on the other hand, looked at the backs of kei's and hyesung's heads with a sad frown.

The four stepped into the karaoke bar. A worker showed them to a room. they ordered their drinks and then browsed through the songbooks.

"hmmm…what song to sing…" hyesung mutter to himself.

"I'm first!" soo yung rushed up to the machine and selected her song. Park ji yoon's 'sung in shik' played.

"nan eeje duh eesang sonyuhga aniyeyo

keudae duh eesang mangsuleejee malayo

keudae kidalyuttdun mankheum nado oneuleul kidarussuhyo

jangmee seumoosongeel naege jwuhyo

keudae sarangeul neuggeel soo itge

keudae kidarimyuh na eeje nooneul kamayo.."

the song ended and hyesung, kei, and minwoo clapped for soo yung. She did a playful curtsy and sat back down.

"my turn!" minwoo got up and selected a song. HOT's 'aiya!' came on.

three pairs of wide eyes stared at minwoo. "you're going to sing 'aiya!'?" soo yung asked.

"why not?" minwoo grinned at them.

"including the screaming 'aiya's' at the end?" hyesung asked.

"mebbe. Woohyuk's parts are hard to sing."

Minwoo then started to sing. His powerful voice sang the hard and loud song, though his voice was much softer compared to those of HOT's. the song then came to the end and minwoo did the screaming 'aiya's. hyesung covered his ears at minwoo's loud screaming. Hyesung then laughed when minwoo's voice cracked on the last aiya.

The music ended and minwoo sat back down. "hey hey, it's not an easy song to sing."

"you're not jang woohyuk, that's for sure," hyesung snickered.

"no he's not. He's lee minwoo, much better than jang woohyuk," soo yung said, planting a kiss on his cheek. Minwoo smiled and planted one on hers.

Hyesung rolled his eyes. "save it for the honeymoon. Kei, you want to go?"

Kei shook her head. "you go ahead."

"no, you go, kei," soo yung said.

Kei shook her head. "hyesung can go first."

"knowing you, you'll probably not sing at all," hyesung said. "you go."

"can I just not sing at all?" kei asked.

"no! you are going to sing!" soo yung protested. "I know you can sing good."

"I kinda dun wanna sing tho…" kei complained.

"ahh! I figured this would happen. You have to sing at least once tonight," soo yung said.

Kei set her lips in a tight line. "fine, I'll sing once. Just not now."

"fine, hyesung go," minwoo said.

Hyesung got up. "since we've been going with the fast songs, I'm gonna follow the trend." He selected fly to the sky's 'I don't wanna say goodbye.'

"watch and learn from a pro," hyesung said.

"haha hyesung, you can't rap like brian," soo yung joked.

"you're right. I rap better," hyesung said, smiling.

"really…" soo yung snickered.

The song started. The opening rap, hyesung fell slightly behind, but once he got into the song, he was on a roll, and he flowed through the middle rap easily.

"I know I made mistakes, but none to make you mad

so it's a question to my mind why you left so fast

so understand me boo, cuz all I want is you

and I would get down on my knees if you would want me to

so come on…"

minwoo and soo yung applauded loudly for hyesung. Kei clapped quietly herself.

"I don't wanna say goodbye." Hyesung ended the song and received a loud applause from the three. He did a little funny victory dance and then took a bow. "I love singing…it beats studying," he said.

"amen," soo yung and minwoo agreed.

Throughout the night, soo yung, minwoo, and hyesung sang various songs. Kei sat quietly in her seat drinking her drink and listening to her friends sing.

After hyesung finished singing HOT's 'free to fly,' he sat down and gulped down his drink.

"oki keikei, it's almost midnight. We've waited all night now," hyesung said.

Kei stared blankly at the 3 faces before her. she then slowly got up and selected a song.

"oh I love this song!" soo yung exclaimed.

As one's 'day by day' played in the room. hyesung smiled as he remembered playing this song when kei fell asleep on his bed.

Kei closed her eyes and took a breath.

"jo shil soo rae da ga oh neun nuhl cho eum oo loh ahl gae dwaet dun nahl

gi bbeun dae shin han soom ae myo chil bam eul sae wuht suht ji

ah joo oh ae gol ril ji molla noo goon ga ba ta teul ee gin

ah jik boo jok han nal ahl ah joo gaet ni

nuh moo so joong haet dun sa rang ee dduh na buh rin hoo loh

sa rang hal soo buh da go nan mit uh wat neun dae

na eh sang cho gga ji do ahn ah joo neun nuhl wi hae mae ihl

joh geum sshik bo yo jool gae nae ihl jo geum duh chin hae jil ggoh ya

ji geum eh mo seub ee da loh neun nuh reul sa rang ha gin mo ja ra

na eh ma eum mo doo nuh ae gae nae uh jool soo iht do lohk

joon bi ha neun nal gi da lyo joo gaet ni…"

kei's soft voice rang through the room. the other occupants of the room discovered a new side of kei's normally quiet voice. The pleasant and sweet tone of her voice filled their ears…

the song came to an end. Kei slowly and carefully turned around to her small audience. She gazed upon the three faces. Soo yung had a bright grin on her face. Minwoo had surprised eyes. Kei looked upon hyesung's face but couldn't decipher any obvious expressions from his face. Kei began to involuntarily shake and shiver. Her eyes began to water. I knew this was a mistake…

soo yung looked up at kei and concern swept over her eyes when soo yung saw the tears in kei's eyes. "kei, are you crying? Why are you crying?"

"…" kei couldn't answer, for she herself did not know.

"kei, that was really good. That was soooooo good," soo yung said. "we're all just so surprised that you had such a pretty voice that you hide by being quiet all the time."

Kei forced a smile. "I know. I don't know why I'm…I'm…" the tears spilled out of her eyes and she quickly wiped them away with her hand.

Hyesung, at seeing her tears, got a kleenex, stood up and handed it to kei. Kei looked up at hyesung. She accepted the kleenex and dabbed her eyes. "I'm oki." Hyesung smiled.

"yeah, nothing to cry over," soo yung said, getting up from her seat and walking over to kei. Minwoo got up and walked up behind soo yung.

"really, I'm oki. I don't know why tears came out," kei quietly said.

"oh silly girl," hyesung said.

Soo yung hugged kei. "yeah silly girl. Nothing to cry over."

Kei forced a smile. "yeah I know."

"let's go. It's getting late," hyesung said. He took kei by the shoulders and led her out the room. soo yung reached for minwoo's hand. Minwoo took soo yung's hand and they walked out the door.

"gosh, didn't kei sing good?" soo yung said.

"mm hmm," minwoo quietly agreed.

Soo yung smiled. "you know, I think hyesung and kei should really get together."

Minwoo didn't answer. Instead, he stared forward, his face expressionless, at the backs of hyesung's and kei's heads again for the second time that day.

He walked up the stairs and down the hall. "hmmmm….should be 1004. Chunsa (angel). What a coincidence."

He reached room 1004. He lifted his arm and softly knocked on the door.

The door opened and a half-awake soo yung appeared in the doorway. "who is it…?" she looked up and her eyes shot wide open.

"morning soo yung. Did I wake you up?"

"dongwan. Hi…" soo yung softly said. Dongwan? You're…you're here…what are you doing here?

"is kei up?"

"kei? Oh, you're looking for kei? Um…" she turned around. "give her 20 minutes.

Dongwan smiled. "she's still asleep huh?"

Soo yung nodded. She closed the door. Oh my gosh. Dongwan… she walked over to kei's bed. She shook kei. "kei. Kei, wake up."

"mmm?" kei slowly shifted in her bed.

"dongwan's, um, here to see you."

kei's eyes flew open. "oh my gosh, what time is it? Ahh, I overslept!" she jumped out of her bed and rushed to her closet. She pulled out a t-shirt and jeans and changed into them in record time. She then raced out of the room to the bathroom to wash up, passing by dongwan without even saying hi to him.

Dongwan turned towards soo yung again. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "was…was that kei that just passed by me there?" he asked.

Soo yung nodded, not looking at dongwan. "she overslept."

"oh. Hehehe," dongwan laughed. He then cleared his throat. "so, how have you been soo yung?"

"oki."

Dongwan smiled. "I see that you've found yourself another boyfriend. Looks like a nice guy."

Soo yung slowly nodded. "yeah…minwoo's a…nice..guy…"

dongwan nodded. "that's good. You deserve a nice guy."

Soo yung nodded again. She then slowly raised her face to dongwan. "dongwan?"

dongwan faced soo yung. "yeah?"

"i…i…" soo yung looked up into his dongwan, his deep brown eyes. She then lowered her face. "never mind." Without waiting for an answer, she hurried back into the room, leaving dongwan out in the hallway with a blank look on his face.

A few moments later, kei walked up to dongwan. "sorry I'm late. I overslept."

"no problem. Wow, you got ready in 10 minutes. Usually girls take hours to get ready."

"well, I don't have much to deal with." She looked down at her shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Her hair was up in a simple ponytail. "there's not much you can do with a plain person like me."

"hey hey, don't say that. You are not plain. You're just very casual and that's not plain."

"yeah sure whatever. Anywayz, shall we go?"

dongwan smiled and raised his elbow to her. "yes we shall."

Kei looked at his arm, a BUFF arm, and hesitantly slid her hand into the crook of his arm. Kei then faced her room. "soo yung, I'm leaving now."

Soo yung slowly came out of the room. her eyes automatically spotted the link in dongwan's and kei's arms, but they recovered and looked back up to kei. "oki. Um, when are you going to be back?"

"um…" kei trailed off. She looked up at dongwan.

Dongwan shook his head and shrugged. "dunno yet. Mebbe by 3?" he answered.

"um, oki," soo yung said. "see you guys then. Um, have fun."

Dongwan and kei then turned around and walked down the hallway. Soo yung stared at the back dongwan's head. She then slowly walked into the room and shut the door behind her. she then wrapped her arms around herself and hugged herself tight.

Dongwan…it's been so long…but it still hurts…and I seem to be the only one hurting…why? Why do I hurt when I see you?

"movie's at 12:30. Let's go to lunch first," dongwan suggested. Kei nodded in agreement, and dongwan steered his car to a nearby restaurant.

They walked into the restaurant and got seated. After giving their orders to the waiter, they sat there listening to the sfot classical music playing in the background. Vivaldi's '4 seasons' was playing, and kei softly hummed to Prima Vera, the Spring movement.

"you like classical music?" dongwan asked.

Kei shrugged. "I used to hear it all the time at home. My, uh, dad used to listen to it."

"ah. I remember the psychology professor mentioning that classical music stimulates the mind during a test."

"I guess it could."

Dongwan laughed. "not when the piece is composed about a WWII battle."

Kei smiled. Dongwan shook his head. "anywayz, I'm oki with classical. I tend to go for a more rock-ish alternate guy. I listen to some pop too."

"I can sorta tell. That's cool."

"do you like rock or alternate or pop?"

"I like all music…'cept mebbe country," kei smiled. "somehow, songs about dead dogs don't appeal to me."

Dongwan laughed. "I can see why. You seem more like the one to listen to mushy and sappy love songs, right?"

Kei smiled even bigger and placed her hands on her hips. "hey, nothing wrong with those songs. They're really nice."

"yeah I know. I like them too. Kinda makes me wish I had some sort of musical talent to write my own songs. I'm tone-deaf, I tell you."

'write my own songs'…I know…someone…who…does… kei thought to herself.

the waiter then came with their food and drinks and they began eating in silence. Halfway through his sandwich, dongwan looked up. He glanced at kei and saw that she had at most taken 2 nibbles of her sandwich. She was staring off into space. She looked like she had a lot on her mind. Dongwan cleared his throat and kei snapped back into reality and looked up at him.

"are you going to eat that, or are you saving room for popcorn?"

kei smiled. "you're going to get popcorn after all that?" she pointed to the HUGE plate of food he had before him, with a LARGE sandwich, a generous serving of fries, and a humungous salad. "looks like dinner more than a lunch."

Dongwan smiled. "hey, I'm a growing boy."

"hehe. Is that what your mother said to you all the time?"

dongwan's smile slowly started to fade. "um…no…"

kei spotted his shift in moods. "what's wrong?"

"nothing."

"…"

dongwan looked up at kei and saw the pair of questioning and inquisitive eyes. He also saw a hint of uneasiness and guilt across kei's face. Dongwan sighed. "well…see, I kinda don't have a mother."

Kei raised an eyebrow. "what do you mean?"

dongwan cast his eyes down. "my, uh…my mom left me when I was 5 years old."

Kei sat there, speechless.

"she and my dad didn't get along when I was born. When I was 5, she found another man and left with him."

Kei looked away. "I, uh, I'm sorry. I dunno what to say."

Dongwan shrugged. "it's oki. I barely remember it."

Kei looked at dongwan. "some things are probably best not remembered…" she said softly.

Dongwan nodded. "that's right. Forget and move on, right?"

Kei gave a small smile. "well, it looks like we're both on the same boat."

Dongwan looked up at kei. "what do u mean?"

kei breathed in deeply. "my dad found another woman and he left me and my mom."

"really? Wow. So you know how it feels."

Kei slowly nodded. "except that I can't forget it. This happened when I was 10 years old. I'm not as lucky as you. I can remember everything."

Dongwan looked at kei. "I see…how…um…how was it?"

kei shook her head and looked up at dongwan with sad eyes. She didn't want to bring up the old painful memories. She had already gone as far as telling dongwan this much about her past. She hardly ever told anyone about her past, not even soo yung. When asked about her past, she would normally not say a thing. Only 2 people outside her family knew about her problems…yoojin and…

Seeing that kei wasn't going to say anything, dongwan gave her a smile. "don't worry. Everything's all good now." He then raised his sandwich and resumed eating. Kei also continued eating herself.

10 minutes later, kei placed her fork down and drank her orange juice.

"you want dessert?" dongwan asked.

Kei looked up at dongwan. She then nodded.

Dongwan got up and grabbed a menu and flipped to the dessert menu. "oh hey, cheesecake! I love cheesecake!" he exclaimed.

"that what you're gonna get?" kei asked. Dongwan nodded gleefully and handed her the menu.

"what are you gonna get?" he asked.

Kei looked up from the menu. She smiled.

"mud pie."

"aww, it's a full house today."

They walked into the theater and saw all the seats occupied.

"my gosh. You sure we have seats?" kei asked.

"I'm not so sure myself. Hey look, there are 2 seats on the side there." They made their way to the two seats up against the wall. They got to the seats and sat dwon, dongwan in the seat against wall. Kei sat down and found herself squished, a big BIG man on her right side and a big BUFF dongwan on her left side. She scrunched in her shoulders in the tight space.

Throughout the movie, Kei could not get comfortable. Both dongwan's shoulders and the big man's arms were on the armrests. Their broad shoulders shortened the space for her shoulders. Kei shifted around in her seat, trying to not have contact with either dongwan's muscular arm or the big man's jiggly arm. Kei unintentionally bumped hard into dongwan's arm. "sorry," she apologized.

"are you oki? You're moving around a lot."

"i…don't have..enough space…"

"oh! Yeah, for some reason, these seats are smaller. Here, let me move my arm." Dongwan reached over, took kei's arm, and placed it on the armrest while he put his own arm on his lap. "better?" kei nodded, relieved that it was too dark for dongwan to see her blush at his touching her. They both returned to the screen.

A few moments later, kei felt some extra weight on her right side. She looked to her right and saw that the big man had fallen asleep. Kei's eyes widened as the big man suddenly toppled over even more, leaning onto her. kei tried to lean away, but she couldn't because of the small space and ended up bumping into dongwan again.

"I'm sorry dongwan," kei apologized again, pointing to the big guy.

"good gosh, he fell asleep. Hey," dongwan reached over and shook the guys's shoulder. "wake up! Hey!" but the sleeping man would not budge. Dongwan looked at kei. "he is dead out."

Kei gave a pouting face. "I feel trapped."

"here, lemme make some more room for you." dongwan lifted his arm and put it around the back of kei's seat. This gave kei a lot more room, now that dongwan's big shoulder was behind her. "better?" dongwan asked.

Kei shyly lowered her head and nodded. She then turned her eyes to the screen, but she didn't pay full attention to the movie. She was conscious of the arm on the back of her seat. Moments later, the big man leaned over even more, making kei lean against dongwan. Kei looked up at dongwan apologetically, and dongwan just smiled and shook his head. Kei again turned to the screen and tried to concentrate on the movie.

A good half an hour into the movie, kei was becoming absorbed into the plot. She didn't even notice the big man hanging over the armrest. Kei began to relax and lose herself into the movie until she felt something around her shoulders. Kei's eyes widened and she sat there paralyzed. Dongwan's arm was now resting on her shoulders. Kei glanced to the side through the corner of her eyes at dongwan. He was paying attention to the movie. He didn't seem to notice that his arm was no longer on the seat. She looked back to the movies but she was no longer able to watch the movie.

The movie ended, and people started getting up and exiting the theater. Dongwan lifted his arms and stretched. Kei felt weight lift off of her shoulders and she looked at dongwan. Dongwan looked back at her and smiled. "ready to go?" he asked.

Kei just nodded and got up from her seat. They then walked out of the theaters, after a few more attempts at waking up the big sleeping giant.

"soo yung? Soo yung?"

"huh, what?" soo said, snapping back into reality.

"are you oki? You seem out of it today," minwoo said.

Soo yung shook her head. "I'm oki." They continued walking down the street of shops, hand in hand.

They stopped at a store of crystal and glass figurines. They glanced at the figurines displayed in the window. Soo yung's eyes scanned over the various sparkling gems, bears, shoes, birds, people… Her eyes stopped on a crystal rose that was encased in a clear cover in the corner. Wow, that's so pretty, soo yung thought to herself.

Minwoo saw soo yung staring at the roses and started to smile. Minwoo browsed through the glass objects and his eyes fell upon a medium sized dragon and unicorn facing each other. His lips fell into a frown…

"hey minwoo…come with me. I need to buy a present for yoojin," kei said.

Minwoo nodded. "alright. What do you plan to buy?"

"well, yoojin likes stars, so I was thinking of getting her a crystal star or something.."

"ooh, that would be nice."

They walked over to a crystal store. They found a pretty crystal star and kei went to go pay for it.. Minwoo continued to look at the crystals in the store. His eyes fell upon a dragon and a unicorn in the display case.

"hey kei, come here," minwoo called. Kei walked over to minwoo with a wrapped box in her hands.

"what's up?"

"look. Don't the dragon and the unicorn look tight?"

kei looked at the two figurines. The dragon had a long skinny body with short legs and an elaborate face. Its body had each scale intricately carved. It was on the all fours, one of its forepaws on a crystal ball. Kei looked over to the unicorn with amazed eyes. It was a beautiful figurine standing on its hind legs and its wings spread out. Its eyes, beautifully etched into the glass, were clear but looked as if they were blazing with fire.

"wow. The unicorn is pretty," kei said in awe.

"I think the dragon looks better," minwoo said.

"nope, the unicorn."

"dragon."

"unicorn."

"dragon."

Soo yung looked up to minwoo. "come on minwoo. Let's go."

Minwoo snapped out of his nostalgic state. he looked to his side and found kei's face turn back to soo yung's face. He then nodded and they continued their way down the line of shops.

Chapter 26

Hyesung tried to pry his eyes open. "what in the heck? What time is it?" he said groggily. He reached for his alarm clock and saw that it was 2pm. He put his clock back, close his eyes, and rolled over in his bed. He placed his arm behind his head and sighed. "gosh, I slept all morning."

Lying there for a few minutes, his mind began to wander back to the voice that had played in his dreams. Kei's voice. Hyesung shook his head. "what the heck? She was just oki. Her voice isn't real strong…" but the purity and sweetness of the voice still lingered in his mind. The innocent expression on her face that was on her face when she sang. Her eyes…eyes that were full of emotion…

"ahhhh!" he let out on exasperate sigh, threw the covers off and sat up on the side of his bed. He bent over and rested his elbows on his legs.

"what's wrong with me? This is hecka trippy…"

just then something caught his eye. He looked towards the object and picked it up. It was a music sheet, the song he had hastily composed a few days ago when kei was sleeping in his bed. Unknowingly, a faint smile played on his face. He then walked over to his computer and flipped it on. once it booted up, he opened the song's file. The music filled the room, and hyesung found his own composition getting him to the heart. The smooth tune filled him within. Once the song ended, hyesung shook his head, realizing the amusing stupor that he was in. "people would laugh at me if they saw me now." He then reached for a pen and a clean sheet of ruled paper.

Dongwan pulled his car up to the curb of a park. Kei looked over to dongwan with a questioning look on her face. "I thought I was gonna be back at 3."

Dongwan looked back at kei. "do you want to go home now? I figured since we still haven't had our coffee yet, which was our original purpose behind today…"

Kei smiled. "it was your idea to go to the movies and everything."

Dongwan smiled back at her. "yeah, but I still want my coffee. And that big sandwich I had for lunch is still sitting my stomach, so I thought that we should go for a little walk in the park first."

Kei raised an eyebrow. She then sighed and nodded. "oki. I feel like walking in the park now."

"great."

They both got out of the car and started walking around the trail in the park. Silence hovered over them for the first few moments. Kei looked around the took in her surroundings. The grass was so green and the trees were so tall. In a blend with the sky, the whole scenery was beautiful.

Off to the side, dongwan was examining kei's profile. He watched as she observed her surroundings with her big eyes. He smiled to himself.

After 10 minutes of walking in silence, they came upon a pond in the park. Kei's eyes widened as she realized that she had been to this park before.

"the sky is beautiful tonight."

Kei nodded in agreement. "yes, it is."

"ugh…everything's blurry now. Headache."

Kei got up from her spot and scooted behind hyesung. "here," she said. She took hyesung's head into her hands and placed it in her lap. She then took her fingers, placed them on his temples, and started to rotate her fingers in circles. After a few seconds, kei asked, "feeling better?"

"mmmmm…" was the answer she got. Kei smiled and continued. she stopped after a couple minutes of massaging hyesung's head. "hyesung, how do you feel now? Hyesung? Hyesung?" she realized that hyesung had fallen asleep in her lap. Kei smiled. He's so cute when he's not mean…

dongwan and kei took a seat next to the pond, which was across the lake from the spot that kei and hyesung were at the night of the club. Dongwan and kei stared out at the lake. Dongwan heaved a sigh.

"I usually come here when I'm sad or frustrated," dongwan said.

Kei nodded. "I can see why. It's so soothing to just sit here."

Dongwan stared off an invisible spot. "I think about my mom all the time when I'm here."

Kei lowered her gaze to her hands. "really…"

"I think about how I really wish to know her, what she was like, how she looked. My father never remarried because he loved her so much. It's just a pity that she didn't love him back…nor did she love me…"

kei looked up at dongwan and shook her head. "no, don't say that. I don't think that she didn't love you. all mothers love their children, in one way or the other. It was probably hard for her to leave you."

dongwan scoffed. "I doubt it."

Kei shifted her gaze back to the lake. "as hard as it was for me to believe, my mother kept telling me that my dad still loved me, just that they didn't love each other anymore. My mom was able to say that to me about someone she didn't love anymore, so there has to be truth in it. And I believe that both your parents love you."

Dongwan gave a faint smile and looked at kei. "thanks."

Kei looked at dongwan and smiled back.

"you know, I don't know why, but usually when I come here, I feel a little better, but never as much as I do right now. It's really nice being around you."

kei turned back to the lake, hoping that dongwan wouldn't notice the blush upon her cheeks. "I enjoy your company too."

Dongwan also faced the lake. "I feel so much more relaxed today. Maybe it's because I'm with you."

Kei shook her head. "I don't think so. But then." She turned her eyes to her hands. "I do also feel more open when I'm with you."

"you do?"

kei looked back up at dongwan. "yeah. I usually don't like talking to people about myself. I'm a very quiet person, if you haven't noticed. But, I feel relaxed when I talk to you, like I can tell you almost anything."

Dongwan smiled. "really? That's really nice to know."

Kei lowered her eyes to her hands again. She realized that she did feel a lot lighter than she did before, like a load had been pushed off of her shoulders. She felt totally at ease around dongwan…

Hyesung walked out of his room and excitedly walked down the hall. He felt a little embarrassed about his excitement, but he couldn't help it. He hurried to room 1004. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Hyesung became confused and knocked again. "it's Saturday. Where would they be? Kei should be home…"

"hyesung! did you need something?" soo yung's voice asked.

Hyesung jumped in surprise and turned to see minwoo and soo yung standing next to him. "whoa, where'd you two come from?"

"we went out. What have you been doing all day? Gosh, don't tell me you just woke up?" soo yung asked.

"how'd you know?"

"get a comb."

Hyesung reached up and realized his hair was sticking up. He tried to smooth it down. "well, I just didn't comb my hair. I woke up mebbe an hour ago."

"gosh hyesung, that was 2 o'clock. Were you that tired?" soo yung exclaimed.

"no. it's Saturday, come on. who would wake up so early?"

soo yung shook her head. "anywayz, what did you need?"

"oh, um, I was, uh, just wondering if kei was in."

"oh, no, she's not," soo yung said, a slight tinge of sadness in her voice.

"where is she then?"

soo yung lowered her gaze to the floor. "she's, um, out with…"

hyesung eyed soo yung. "out with who?"

soo yung then looked at hyesung with timid eyes. "she's out with dongwan."

Hyesung's eyes widened in surprise. "she's what? Why's she out with him?"

"I don't know. But he came and fetched her this morning," soo yung said, her voice getting softer.

Hyesung looked off to the side, not looking at anything in particular. He didn't know why, but his mind was racing with thoughts as he learned of dongwan of kei being together. All of the sudden, feelings of stupidity and foolishness clouded his mind. He then walked off to his room and shut the door.

Soo yung and minwoo looked at hyesung, seeing his reaction. Minwoo looked at soo yung. "soo yung, what's up with hyesung and dongwan?"

Soo yung didn't answer. She shook her head, indicating she didn't want to answer. Minwoo just stared at her, upset. He had noticed her reaction to when she was about to mention dongwan's name. He was also upset at the fact that kei was out with dongwan, at the image of them two being together…

What? Why am I thinking this? Why am I upset because of those two?

"it's almost 5. Should we go now?" dongwan said.

Kei looked at her watch in surprise. "oh my gosh, I didn't think we were here for so long!"

Dongwan smiled. "time flies, huh?"

Kei turned to dongwan and gave a faint smile. "i…guess."

They both got up and left the park. When they reached kei's dorm, they both got out of the car and dongwan walked kei to the door. Kei turned around and faced dongwan. "you can just walk me to here."

Dongwan smiled. "oki. Look, I had a really good time today."

"me too. Except for the big guy leaning on me in the movie, today was really nice."

Dongwan laughed. "hahaha. But then I enjoyed it. You were leaning on me."

Kei lowered her face and furiously blushed. Dongwan laughed again at her reaction and leant over. "I'll see you in class on Monday," he whispered in her ear." He then stood up straight and walked to his car and took off.

Kei watched as the car made its way around the corner and out of sight. She then walked into the dorm and up to her room. she let herself into her room, finding soo yung there sitting on her bed.

"hi soo yung," kei greeted happily.

Soo yung looked up and saw the unusual happy glitter in kei's eyes. Why is she so happy? What did she and dongwan do today? Why do I feel so hurt and resentful that they were out together? "hey kei. Have fun today?"

Kei nodded and spread herself on her bed, face down.

Soo yung looked at kei. "so what did you guys do today?"

"nothing. A lunch and movie."

"oh. Sounds like a date…" soo yung said, her voice becoming a whisper.

"not really. We were just supposed to have coffee today, but he suggested that we go watch a movie too."

"I see…"

"sigh. He's a nice guy."

"I know…" soo yung had a forlorn look on her face.

Kei looked up at soo yung. "what's wrong soo yung?"

Soo yung then looked back at kei. "nothing."

Kei sat up. "no, something's wrong. Tell me."

"nothing's wrong."

"soo yung, please—"

"oh, hyesung was looking for you today," soo yung hastily interrupted, trying to change the subject.

Kei's ears perked up at the mention of hyesung's name. "he was?"

"yeah. Go find him. He's in his room now."

Kei nodded, got to her feet and left the room. as the door closed, a tear slid down soo yung's cheek. "why am I so upset?" she asked herself. "I should be happy. Why am I not happy?"

Kei made her way down the hall and came to hyesung and minwoo's room. she knocked on the door.

A shuffle of footsteps shuffled behind the door. The door then opened and in the doorway appeared minwoo.

"hi minwoo," kei greeted.

"…hey," he greeted back indifferently.

"is hyesung here? I heard he was looking for me."

Minwoo looked at kei, at her T-shirt and jeans, her clean and relaxed look. Kei grew uneasy at his speculating her. his stare was discomforting.

After a few seconds, he then walked into the room, leaving kei at the door. A few seconds later, hyesung appeared at the doorway. Kei smiled. "hyesung, were you looking for me?" her smile faded when she saw the cold expression on his face.

Hyesung then let out a scoff. "what are you kidding me? Who would want to look for a fat ugly dog like you? don't flatter yourself." With that, he shut the door in her face, her surprised face. She was dumbfounded at what had just happened. All of the sudden, she felt a twang of hurt within her. his words stabbed her a million times.

Fat ugly dog…fat ugly dog…

she turned and slowly made her way down the hall.

"aww kei. I didn't mean anything mean when I said that you had a lot of meat."

FAT ugly dog…

"I'm just playing with you. you look nice today. Let's go."

Fat UGLY dog…

Streams of tears ran down kei's face and she ran down the hall and out the dorms.

8pm.

Minwoo knocked on the door. The door opened and soo yung appeared in the doorway, looking tired and exhausted.

"are you oki babe?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung nodded. "I'm oki."

"um, oki. Ready to go to dinner?"

soo yung nodded again. "where's hyesung?"

"he's in the room. he's coming out soon."

"kei's there too, right?"

minwoo looked at her weird. "no…didn't she come back?"

soo yung grew fearful. "no. you mean she's not with you guys? She went to look for hyesung."

"that was 2 hours ago. She came for a minute and then left."

"what! Then where is she? Where would she be?"

minwoo stared wide-eyed and speechless. Kei is missing?

"you guys ready?" hyesung asked as he approached the two.

"hyesung, kei's missing!" soo yung said.

Hyesung stopped in his tracks. He then scoffed. "oh really?"

"yes! We have to find her!"

hyesung rolled his eyes. "why? She'll probably pop up with dongwan again." He then walked past soo yung and minwoo down the hall.

Soo yung's jaw dropped. "hyesung. But…don't you care if she's safe or not?"

"why should I? She's not anyone to me," he answered, not looking back at soo yung or minwoo. He continued his way down the hall.

"hye…hye…hyesung," soo yung said softly.

Minwoo stared after hyesung's disappearing figure, a confused look on his face. He's become cold again. And I have a feeling it has to deal with that dongwan guy…

Soo yung looked up at minwoo. "minwoo, what are we going to do?"

minwoo looked at soo yung. "well, right now it's only been 2 hours. We don't know if kei's actually missing or not. Let's wait a little longer. If she doesn't come back or call or anything, we'll go look for her."

Soo yung lowered her eyes and nodded.

Minwoo wrapped his arms around soo yung. "it's oki. Everything will be oki."

Chapter 27

Kei walked up and down the streets, not knowing where she was. She had been walking aimlessly up and down streets for the past couple of hours. She was cold, hungry, and…hurt.

As she rounded a corner, electronic music and bright lights filled the air. She looked up and saw that she had arrived before an arcade. She peered inside and saw the various video games and the people playing them. Towards the center, a mob of people were crowding around smoething. Curiosity tugging at her mind, she went into the arcarde.

She walked up to the crowd and tried to see what everyone was looking at. She found someone in the center jumping around on a machine. Kei looked closely and saw that the person was playing DDR, and whoever it was was real good. He was stepping all over the pad in rapid steps and swinging his arms in unison with his moves. It was really a sight to see. The person was dressed in large baggy dark clothes and a black beanie.

Isn't he hot under all that clothing from dancing? Kei thought to herself. A breeze blew in from the doorway and kei shivered. That jacket looks warm.

Finally the person jumped into his final steps and his round was over. Everyone that was crowded around clapped and cheered. Kei quietly clapped herself.

The guy turned to the side. "andy, take over for me!" another guy in a grey muscle shirt and baggy black pants stepped up and took the beanie guy's place. The beanie guy got off the machine and walked over to a table that was already occupied by another guy. Kei followed the guy with her eyes.

the guy from the table threw the beanie guy a towel. The beanie guy took off his jacket and wiped himself with the towel.

"geez eric, next time take off your jacket when you play," the guy who threw the towel said.

"shut up junjin. I'm not like you, always wanting to go around topless."

Kei's ears perked up. Eric? Junjin?

"you know girls love it," junjin said, smiling.

"puh-leeze." Eric plopped down at the table. "who'd wanna see all those skinny ribs of yours?" junjin laughed and sat down next to eric.

Oh my gosh, eric and junjin, two guys from high school. They were the ones that were really good at dancing…I didn't think that I would ever meet them again…

"argh! Game over!" a voice cried.

"ahh andy! You ruined my record!" eric cried out.

"whatever dude. I'm tired."

All of the sudden, kei felt a push from behind and she fell on the floor.

"oops, my bad." Kei saw a hand in front of her, but she didn't take it. She got up herself and found herself before a guy that towered a few inches over her. he had dyed red hair, dark red lips, and round eyes. It was andy, the guy who had taken eric's place on DDR.

"you oki?" he asked indifferently when kei got up.

Kei just nodded, not raising her eyes to him.

"um, oki then. Sorry." Then andy turned around and headed towards eric and junjin's table. Kei started to brush off the dirt on her T-shirt.

"dang, you trying to pick up on girls now? I saw that, andy. But I don't think knocking girls to the ground's gonna get you anywhere," junjin joked.

"I don't think so junjin. Besides, that girl back there was only oki. Not exactly hot."

"really? Where is she now?" junjin moved his head and looked towards the direction that andy came from.

"she's right there, the one in the white t-shirt," andy said, pointing to kei.

Eric was sipping his soda. He looked to where andy pointed to and almost spit out his drink.

"what the heck dude? You almost spit all over me!" andy cried.

"junjin, look! You see who I think I see?" eric asked excited.

Junjin squinted. His eyes then widened. "hey, isn't that…?"

"LIM KEI!" eric shouted.

All eyes in the arcade turned to eric, except for kei's. she had frozen in her spot, not able to move.

"that's kei? Is that really her?" junjin asked.

Eric got up from his seat and hurried over to kei. He tried to look at her in the face. "kei, is that you? do you remember me? It's me, eric, from high school."

Kei slowly turned around and peered at eric. She looked up at the tall dark guy that stood before her now. She recognized eric's big clear eyes and his tough look that always lingered on his face. "umm…eric…"

"are you lim kei?" he asked again.

Kei couldn't answer. Instead, she slowly nodded.

A smile spread upon eric's face. "wow, it really is you. how have you been lately? Didn't think that I would bump into you here." He playfully hit her in the arm. Kei just stood there speechless.

"hey, who's that?" andy asked junjin.

"her name's lim kei. She used to go to mine and eric's high school. She went to our school for the first two years, and then she left cuz her friend yoojin committed suicide."

"whoa, you serious? Committed suicide? For what?"

"for a guy named minwoo. There were rumors going around that kei had pushed yoojin off the roof too."

"huh? Really? Do you think so?"

junjin shook his head. "I don't think so. Yoojin jumped herself. It's a pity tho. Yoojin was a hot chick."

"really now…"

"you want to come over to my table? You remember junjin? He's here too," eric asked kei.

Kei didn't answer. Eric started walking to the table and she hesitantly followed.

"hey, look who's here. Junjin, you remember kei from high school. Kei, this is our buddy andy." Andy waved and kei nodded her head to him, not saying a word.

Junjin looked up at kei. "well, sit! Don't just stand there," he said. Kei slowly slid into the seat and eric sat down in the booth also.

"long time no see kei. How have you been? You kinda scared the whole school when you disappeared there," junjin said. Kei just looked back at him with no expression on her face.

Eric cleared his throat. "yeah, we didn't see you much after the school festival."

"oh yeah that's right! The school festival, where you and lee minwoo did that dance. Dude, did you surprise everyone that day!"

"dance?" andy asked.

"dude, you would think she's all quiet and shy from how she looks now," junjin said. "but if you saw her that day at the festival, you woulda thought that she was a totally different person. She can move…better than you can andy!"

"oh really?" andy glanced over at kei. "you dance?"

"she and lee minwoo took first place that year," eric told andy.

Andy's eyes widened. "wow. I thought you two got first every year for your school festival."

Junjin shook his head. "not that festival. Kei was on fire that day. Right kei?" he smiled at kei, but kei didn't look up. Her head was lowered, avoiding all their gazes.

"aww come on kei. It's oki to talk to us. We won't bite," junjin said.

"yeah. Don't be afraid and shy. You're not so shy when you on the dance floor," eric said.

"I'd really like to see you dance, see how good you are," andy said.

"she is tight I tell you," junjin said.

Eric then softly nudged kei. "hey, so what brings you to this neighborhood?"

Kei looked up. "i…i…I was kinda just wandering around," she very softly said.

"wandering around? You live near here?" junjin asked.

Kei looked up at junjin and then looked back down. "um…my dorm is near here…somewhere…"

"your dorm? You go to the university?"

kei nodded.

"cool. Our andy boy here goes to the university too," junjin said.

"yeah. But I haven't seen you around before," andy said.

Kei didn't say anything.

"it's a big campus, stupid. It's not a surprise that you didn't see her," junjin said. he sighed. "me and eric here go to the city college. Not as great as you guys, but all are still classes."

Kei nodded.

Eric shook his head. "you really haven't changed, kei. Still the quiet girl like before. You still dance?"

Kei looked up at the mention of dance. She then shook her head. "I haven't danced for quite a while."

"really? Then we should go dancing! How about clubbing tonight?" junjin excitedly suggested.

"good idea. I wanna see kei dance," andy said.

Eric turned to kei. "what do you say? Wanna go clubbing with us?"

kei looked at the three guys around her, all looking at her with expectant eyes. She then lowered her eyes and gave a faint nod.

Chapter 28

It was approaching 10 o'clock when the car pulled up into the parking lot of a popular night club. Eric shifted the car into parking gear.

"let's go!" andy said excitedly, opening the door.

"but…" kei started to say. Three pairs of eyes looked at her. she glanced down. "you guys want me to go in like this?" she pointed to her T-shirt and jeans. "don't you guys…don't you guys want to pick up girls?"

"yeah. What's your point?" andy asked.

"I don't think you guys want to go in with me like this," kei softly said.

"hmmm…I guess she has a point," junjin said. "I know! Here!" he took off his black bucket hat and placed it on kei's head. Junjin smiled and andy laughed. Junjin turned to eric. "yo, eric. Give her your jacket. That'll stun everyone," junjin said.

Eric stared at kei. He then slipped off his jacket and put it around kei's shoulders. Kei looked at the three guys. She then slipped into the jacket and adjusted the black bucket hat so that all her hair was in the hat. She zipped up the jacket.

"good, perfect," junjin commented. "now let's party! Kei's gonna be one of the BOYS tonight!"

the four got out of the car and headed into the club, kei trailing behind in her disguise. As they entered the club, she lowered her head, hiding her eyes under the hat.

"yo eric my man!" a voice cried.

"hey junjin!"

"look, andy's here!"

"homeboiz are here! the place is going to go through the roof tonight!"

"who's the new guy?"

the four made their way to a table and sat down. They ordered drinks and then sat there and absorbed the excitement of the environment.

Two girls walked up to the table. "oh hey look! It's eric, junjin, and andy! How are you boys doing tonight?" the tall pretty one asked.

"just fine amy," eric answered. "you gonna grace us with your dancing tonight?"

"mmm, maybe. I was thinking that you guys would grace us with your guys' dancing," amy answered.

"yeah! I wanna see! I love watching you guys!" the short cute one said. "it's been a week now!"

"we will sooner or later," junjin said.

"who's the new guy?" amy asked.

Junjin grinned. "this guy here is better than all three of us combined. Smoked me and eric the last time we danced."

Amy's eyes widened. "oh really? That's really something. Name?"

"K, short for kenny," andy quickly said.

Junjin smiled. "yup, it's K."

"well nice to meet you," amy said. "hope to see you dance tonight. Let's go yoori. I think hyun's gonna be drunker than drunk soon." The two girls left.

The guys then laughed when the two girls were gone. "that was pretty funny," junjin said.

"yeah, can't believe that the whole disguise worked. They really think kei's a guy," andy said.

"so, K. feel like dancing yet?" junjin asked, draping his arms over kei's shoulders.

"uhhh…" kei still felt a little uncomfortable in this new environment, and even more uncomfortable with a guy's arm around her shoulder.

Just then, the music stopped and all of the sudden, there was cheering in the club. Yoori, the short girl that was with amy, ran up to their table

"come on you guys! Everyone's asking for you guys to dance now!" she said. She then ran back to the crowd.

The three guys looked at each other.

"guess we can't disappoint everyone now, right?" junjin said. Junjin nodded his head to the dance floor and they got out of their seats. Eric turned and faced kei. He motioned for her to come out.

"come on kei. Come watch us. Then you can see who really deserved that dance trophy from high school."

Kei gave a faint smile and scooted out of her seat. The four then walked onto the dance floor. They made their way to the center of the floor, kei remaining among the crowd.

"alright everyone!" yoori's voice echoed throughout the club as she spoke into the microphone. "let's give it up for eric, junjin, and andy!"

the music started and the three guys went at it. Like toy soldiers coming to life, they danced an intense routine that was in step and in sync with one another. Then they all danced their own solo routine, all amazing. Kei smiled as she thought back to the day of the school festival. Like then, she was amazed by junjin's, eric's, and now andy's dance skills. She felt her own feet start to move a little to the beat.

Eric scanned the crowd with his eyes and spotted kei. He then walked over to her and pulled her out of the crowd into the center of the circle. "let's everyone give it up for my friend K!" he shouted, and everyone in the club applauded.

Kei froze, paralyzed in her spot. Familiar feelings of fear and panic overwhelmed her mind. Expectant eyes looked at her. she looked to eric with panic-stricken eyes. Eric saw the panic and clapped his hand on her shoulder.

"don't be scared," he whispered in her ear. "just follow me." He let go, took a few steps back, and started to dance.

Kei watched eric for a moment and then breathed deeply. She lowered her head so not only to hide her face from everyone but to also hide everyone's faces from her eyes. With everyone's faces out of view, she closed her eyes and started to move to the beat. At first she mimicked eric's moves, but soon she started to dance her own moves, and eric stopped dancing and stood back to watch.

Kei lost herself in her own little world, as always when she was absorbed in dancing. All she did was dance and all the feeling and emotion from within her would come out through the dance. eric recognized this. At times kei would dance a "happy" dance, but throughout most of her routine, eric sensed different feelings

--sadness, loneliness, hurt, and pain.

She must be depressed, he thought to himself he was moved. Even though she was dancing steps that he could dance easily, the interpretation and feeling she emitted through the dancing seemed to be more of a natural thing for her to do. At discovering the sadness through her dancing, Eric felt a little pity for kei.

The crowd oohed and awed at kei's dancing. They were amazed at this new guy's skills. Just then the music stopped and kei did some final footwork. The crowd applauded loudly. Kei, not bothering to receive the applause, just walked out of the circle and sat down at the table. The people on the dance floor then resumed dancing.

"hey kei that was awesome! You pulled some tight moves out there!" junjin exclaimed as he came back to the table. Andy followed behind, eyes bugged and jaw wide open.

"was…was that you that was out there?" he asked in disbelief.

Junjin laughed. "see what did I tell you? didn't our quiet ol' kei seem like a totally different person out there?"

"I'll say," andy agreed.

Eric came up to the table staring at kei. "phat dance you had there," he said.

"thanks," kei quietly responded.

As eric took a seat, a group of girls came over to the table.

"HI GUYS!" they chanted together. Junjin, eric, and andy waved. Kei just sat there motionless, covering her eyes with her hat.

"that was sooo good eric!" one girl squealed, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "are you going to teach me how to dance as awesome as you some time?" another girl sat down next to andy and started to giggle, while another girl came up to junjin. "junjin, you didn't take off your shirt today," she playfully pouted. Junjin winked at eric and eric rolled his eyes.

"so are you going to introduce us to your friend here?" the tall girl said, eyeing kei. Kei shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Junjin cleared his throat. "everybody, this is K."

"hi K!" the girls greeted together. Kei didn't answer answer or wave.

"why's he so quiet? He was amazing on the dance floor just a few minutes ago," the tall girl said.

"K's the quiet type," andy answered.

"oh really?" the girl next to andy said. "sounds like my type of guy." She leaned voer and rubbed her hand on kei's arm.

Kei jumped at the touch and instantly scooted closer to eric, avoiding the touch. The girls laughed. "hey mia. Looks like K doesn't like ya," the girls said.

"aww. Are you really scared of me, K? I won't bite. I just wanna dance with you," mia said, edging closer to kei, while kei leaned more and more towards eric, practically hiding behind him.

"K's just not interested in girls now," eric said, defending kei. "Go bug junjin. He'll be happy to dance with ya. Right junjin?"

junjin grinned. "sure. Let's go mia."

"I wanna dance with junjin tho!" a girl cried.

Junjin grinned even wider. "you can come too!"

"I wanna dance with junjin!"

"me too!"

"me three!"

"aahhhh! Everyone come with me! You too, andy! I don't think I can handle all of them at once! Muhahaha!" junjin laughed hysterically and walked off to the dance floor with the mob of girls surrounding him and andy following behind.

Eric felt kei let out a sigh of relief. Eric smiled and turned to kei. "that was pretty close, huh?"

Kei sat up straight and nodded. "thanks eric. Thank you for everything."

"it's nothing. As long as you have fun."

Kei nodded. "I'm having a lot of fun. The dance really helped relax me."

Eric looked at kei. "you seem to have a lot of stuff that you needed to relax from."

Kei looked up at eric with a questioning look. "wha..what do you mean?"

"I mean that it seems like a lot has gone on in your life stressing you out."

"what makes you think that?"

"the way you danced."

Kei looked at eric with surprised eyes. How…how…how would he know? I mean, how could he tell…through my dancing? He…he…the only one that was able to tell through my dancing…was minwoo…

"don't worry, I won't ask about anything. Knowing you, if you're still as quiet as you were in high school, you won't tell me anything. It doesn't matter. I just care if you're happy, aite?"

kei looked at eric in the eyes, a pair of sincere eyes. She gave a faint smile and nodded. "thanks eric."

Eric smiled back. "thirsty? Let's order some drinks."

After a little thought, kei said, "let's play a drinking game."

Eric looked at kei surprised. "a drinking game? You know a drinking game?"

"no…don't you?"

"well, yeah…"

"then teach me. I want to play."

Eric eyed kei. "you…you know how to drink?"

kei nodded her head. "my mom's boyfriend let me drink sometimes."

"I see. Fine, here's a game…"

eric taught her a game and they both played at it. Kei picked up the game real fast, but she still lost most the rounds and ended up drinking a lot of liquor. After consuming a good amount of liquor, she laid down in the seat and fell asleep.

After about 10 minutes, eric got up and searched for junjin and andy. He spotted them on the dance floor in the midst of girls. He tapped them on the shoulders and they turned around and faced him.

"let's go. Kei's drunk."

"what? You made her drunk?" andy asked.

"no. we were playing a game. Let's go you guys."

After saying their byes to the girls, junjin, eric, and andy left the club. Eric carried kei on his back and carried her out of the club and set her in the car. "hmmm…we don't know where she lives." He got into the car and sped back to the apartment he shared with junjin.

"hey you guys, lemme stay over for the night," andy said.

"why, just cuz we have a girl in the house tonight?" junjin winked at andy. Andy rolled his eyes. "please. Kei seems more like another guy to me than a girl. I forgot my key, and my wonderful roomie's asleep by now, so I probably won't get into the room since that guy sleeps like a rock."

"that's what you get for going to a university buddy. Living in an apartment beats living in one of them dorms," junjin said.

"not my fault. Next year I'll get my own place," andy said.

"or if you want, you can move in with us," junjin offered.

Andy shrugged. "that too. I'll see what happens."

They entered the apartment. Eric carried kei into his room and laid her down on his bed. He took off the hat, unzipped the jacket, and tucked her in, having her sleep in the clothes she was wearing.

"I guess she'll have to stay here for the night. no use trying to find out where she lives now. She's drunker than than a skunk now."

"I didn't know skunks drink," junjin joked.

"I didn't think she drinks," andy said.

"you think she doesn't do anything, andy," junjin pointed out.

"well look at her! the first time I met her she was like all shy and stuff. And you guys said she's the quiet person. Who woulda known that she danced and drank and everything…mebbe other stuff too…"

"whatever. I'm going to sleep," junjin said. He walked into his room.

eric came out of his room with some blankets and pillows in his arms. "you and me sleep out here for tonight."

Andy grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made his way to a couch in the living room. eric took the other couch. They both stripped to their undershirts and boxers and got under the blankets. Andy then popped his head up.

"so eric, what do you think of kei?"

"what do you mean?"

"well, the whole night you were the one taking care of her and everything."

Eric rolled his eyes. "yeah, cuz you and junjin were too busy screwing off."

"seriously, what do you think of her?"

eric looked up at the ceiling. "well, when I knew her in high school, she was really quiet and I thought that she was really boring and stuff. I never really got to know back then. But tonight, just having her with us tonight, I find that she's not that bad. She's cool."

"yeah. She sure can smoke up the dance floor."

"got that right. So what do you think of her?"

"me? Oh I dunno. If she were prettier, I may jock her. I'm not saying she's ugly. Just if she was prettier, mebbe she'd have some more confidence and talk more."

Eric shook his head. "she dun need to be prettier. And I don't think she's quiet cuz she hates how she looks or anything like that. It's like, once you get to know her, her looks really don't matter."

"yeah yeah. So sue me for jocking hot girls. I'm going to sleep. Night eric."

"nite man." Eric turned off the lights and laid in the couch.

Lim kei. Who woulda known that we would get to know each other now.

Chapter 29

"hey you guys, we're going to have to go out to eat today," eric said.

Junjin and andy looked at eric. "why? Did we run out of instant noodles already or something?" junjin asked.

"no, but we can't have noodles when kei's with us," eric said.

"why not?" andy asked.

"I know. Noodles are food too," junjin said.

"geez, what's your guys' problem? I'm gonna buy anyways," eric said.

Junjin and andy looked at each other and grinned. "good stuff," they said simultaneously.

The bathroom door opened and kei stepped out.

"morning kei. How do you feel?" junjin asked.

Kei nodded. "I feel fine."

"really? No hangover? Usually when eric gets drunk, he's moaning and groaning and throwing stuff at me the next morning," junjin said, smiling.

Kei gave a small smile and looked over to eric. "morning eric."

"morning."

"sure, leave me out," andy grumbled.

Kei smiled wider and turned to andy. "morning andy."

Andy gave a disastified look, but then smiled. "Haha, morning."

"we're gonna go out to eat. Eric's gonna pay," junjin said. Kei nodded. She then started to move uncomfortably. Junjin eyed kei. "what's wrong?"

kei shook her head. "it's nothing. Just that I spilled my drink on my shirt yesterday and it's all sticky now."

"oh! You'll need some clean clothes then," junjin said. "but…I don't have any clean clothes…"

"I don't either…gosh junjin! It's your turn to do the laundry this week!" eric scolded.

"yah! My bad. I was working all week."

"due, you two, let's just go buy some new clothes," andy said. "kei should be wearing clothes that fit her more anyways. You two are giants compared to her."

"we're not that much taller than her…how tall are you, kei? 5'6?" junjin asked, trying to estimate her height from his 6-feet height.

"5'7."

"I was close."

"look, andy's right. We should get some clothes that would fit kei." Eric looked at his watch. "it's 10 o'clock. The mall's open now. Let's go."

Minwoo knocked on the door. After 5 times, the door finally opened. Soo yung came before minwoo, tired and worn-out.

"soo yung? Did…did she call?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung slowly shook her head. "minwoo, I'm really worried about her now. What if…what if something happened?" she said worriedly.

"don't worry. I'll go look for her again today," minwoo assured her.

"what? You go look for her? you yourself?"

"yes me myself. You're tired from yesterday. You need to rest. You were out there for 3 hours looking for kei."

Soo yung heaved a sigh. "I just want kei to be okay."

Minwoo reached out and hugged soo yung. "don't worry. Kei will be oki. Come on. let's go eat. You have to take care of yourself."

Soo yung and minwoo walked to the dining commons to get breakfast.

His eyes scanned over the words before him, the words he revised yesterday, words full of disgust, contempt, and anger. He couldn't believe his eyes. The words that had perfectly reflected his feeling yesterday now look horrid to his eyes.

Did I write that? Did I really feel that way? My gosh…I didn't notice how…how strong I felt. Does this mean…does this mean…? He picked up a pen and started writing.

"so, where do you wanna go first?" eric said.

Kei looked before her at all the stores. "I dunno. Let's walk around first." Eric nodded and they walked deeper into the mall.

They walked by an electronics store where a camera was set up so people would be recorded and displayed on a TV as they walked by.

"hey look! I'm on TV!" junjin said, pointing at the TV. Eric, andy, and kei turned and saw their own faces on the TV screen. Junjin and andy started doing funny poses in front of the camera, and soon enough, all three of the guys started dancing in front of the camera. (hehehe…imagine those 3 dancing in front of a camera and goofing off in a mall…puahaha! ) Kei laughed at their silly images. Her eyes then rested on her own face on the screen. Her plain face. Her dirty t-shirt and jeans.

Fat ugly dog.

"okay, I think that's enough you guys. We're creating a crowd now," eric said and pushed everyone away from the camera.

The group continued walking when they were passing by a shoe store.

"I'm going to go check out some shoes," junjin said and disappeared into the shoe store.

"I'm coming with you junjin. My shoes are beat," andy said and followed junjin. Eric and kei continued down the amll. They stopped by a GAP store. Eric looked at kei. "GAP?" he asked. She nodded and they went in.

eric walked over to the guys' section while kei walked over to the girls' section and looked over all the shirts, skirts, pants, and dresses. She glanced at all the apparel…

a few minutes later, eric came up to kei. "find anything you like?"

kei turned and faced eric. "eric…I, um…I have a favor to ask of you."

"what's that?"

"help me pick out some clothes."

"huh?"

"well, I don't usually shop. I usually wear t-shirts and jeans. But…I guess I should get something different. But I dunno what would look good on me."

"um, oki. I guess I'll see what I can do."

"thanks. Just don't pick anything outrageously skimpy or anything please."

Eric shook his head. "no, I won't do that…"

"geez, are they done yet?" andy whined.

"patience andy. You know how girls shop."

"but eric's with her!"

"exactly my point. Oh, there they are."

Junjin and andy got up from the bench as eric and kei walked up to them, both holding shopping bags.

"about time," andy said.

"sorry, long line," kei apologized.

"hey, why don't you go change?" junjin said.

Kei nodded. "I'll be right back," and she headed for the restroom with a shopping bag of clothes in her hand.

"so eric," junjin asked when kei was gone. He had a sly smile on his face.

Eric looked at junjin. "what?"

"is there…is there something going on between you two?" junjin said, nudging eric. Eric rolled his eyes.

"I've already asked, and he's already told me he dun like her."

"really? Aww that's just too bad. What if she had the hots for you?" junjin said, still smiling.

Eric didn't answer right away. He was silent for a little bit, and then he said, "I don't think so. Besides junjin, it wouldn't be possible. You know…"

"hehe, alright alright. Yes I know," junjin said.

"know what?" andy asked.

"nothing," junjin said, shaking his head.

Eric sighed. "besides, I like her as a friend, yo. And also, it's only been one day. She may end up having the hots for you junjin, or vice versa. Or you andy," eric said.

Junjin shrugged.

"well, like I said before," andy started to say, "I can only think of her as a guy."

"hmmm…that's kinda true huh?" junjin said. "which is a cool actually. Don't need to try to impress her or anything with anything and having her find out how broke I really am." He laughed.

"haha, true dat. Sigh. Yup. And after yesterday when the girls were drooling over her too, man, that just makes me think of her more as a guy," andy said.

"one of the guys," junjin echoed.

"look, she's coming back," andy said.

All three turned and looked at kei. Kei was walking back to the guys, dressed in a white ¾ sleeve shirt and a pale blue flowery knee-length skirt. Junjin's and andy's eyes widened.

"now what were you saying about one of the guys?" junjin said in a daze. Andy didn't answer.

Kei approached the three, her eyes avoiding their gazes.

Eric looked at kei questioningly. "what's wrong kei?"

Kei shifted her weight to her other leg uncomfortably. "do I look…that bad?"

"what? Oh no! you don't look bad," junjin said in a surprised voice.

"yea, you just look so different from yesterday," andy said.

"different in a GOOD way," junjin said, emphasizing 'good'.

Eric rolled his eyes. "what they're saying is that you look nice."

"yes, that's it," junjin and andy said.. "more cute and feminine."

"thanks," kei said. "eric helped pick out this outfit."

Junjin's and andy's wide eyes shifted to eric. Andy started to laugh hysterically and gag.

"what the heck andy?" eric asked offended.

"dude, how did you pick out such a conservative outfit for kei? The girls you know wear less than half the material," andy cried, still laughing.

"puh-leeze, andy. You think I like those girls?" eric rolled his eyes. "cut the nonsense andy and let's go eat. I'm hungry."

"yeah yeah. Come on kei, I'm starved!" andy grabbed kei's arm and hurried to the food court, dragging kei with him.

eric started to follow andy and kei, walking to the food court. Junjin caught up with him.

"hey eric. Are you still thinking about who I think you're thinking about?" junjin started to say.

Eric nodded. "the clothes remind me of her."

Junjin nodded. "that's right huh? Gosh," junjin looked over her shoulder at kei was was walking with andy behind them. "everything's such a coincidence."

Eric gave a faint smile. "tell me about it."

"where in the world would she be? How can she not come back to the dorm last night? did something happen? Oh please no. where is she?"

minwoo conintued walking down the street looking around for kei. He looked around for a girl in t-shirt and jeans. He reached the mall and walked inside.

"kei, please turn up. I am totally tripping here," minwoo said to himself, looking around at the people in the mall. However, there were too many people in the mall, and none of them were kei. Minwoo squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. He was exhausted from the night before and his eyes were tired.

"gosh, I can't see clearly." He looked up and saw a couple walking into the food court. The girl was dressed in a white shirt and a blue skirt. Through the blurry vision, she looked faintly like kei from afar, but he shook his head. "kei doesn't wear skirts, nor does she have a boyfriend." Minwoo continued to walk farther down into the mall.

"ahhh," andy sighed in satisfaction as the cold soda slithered down his throat into his full stomach.

"Burp."

All eyes turned to junjin who looked like he was about to ready to burst out laughing.

"junjin! Come on now! Be a little more civilized! Especially around eric! You know he hates it." andy playfully scolded.

"I know I know," junjin said. "BURP."

Andy busted out laughing while eric rolled his eyes again. Kei shook her head, smiling to herself.

"how did I end up with you as a best friend," eric wondered out loud.

Junjin beamed at eric. "cuz you love me."

Eric rolled his eyes again. "get away from me you fruity fool."

Andy calmed down from his laughing and then sighed. "man…that girl from last night was hot."

"which girl?" junjin asked.

"the one with long hair and big eyes," andy dreamily said.

"dude, all of them had long hair and big eyes."

"no, but she was prettier than the rest of them."

"yah, you're hopeless," junjin concluded.

"sigh." A goofy look came upon andy's face.

"dude, if you're that hung over the girl, then let's go to the club again tonight," junjin said.

Andy sat up straight. "for real?"

"why not? Whatcha think eric?"

Eric just shrugged.

"that's a yes. You wanna come again kei?"

kei looked up at the three guys sitting before her. she then lowered her head and nodded. I don't wanna go home…she thought to herself.

"alright!" junjin said.

"hey, are you going to go as kei or as K this time?" andy asked.

"what the heck are you talking about kei or kei…oh wait, kei or Kenny K, I get it," junjin said, laughing. "um...yeah, who are you gonna go as kei?"

kei shrugged. "I dunno." She then lifted her eyes and looked at eric.

Eric looked back at her, and then smiled. "why don't you go as kei this time…"

Hyesung laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

"kei's still not back yet. Where is she? What if something really happened to her?" hyesung start to worry a little bit. He placed his hands behind his head. As his eyes stared up at ceiling, the plain color suddenly changed colors and images and hyesung found himself looking at an image of dongwan and kei sitting very close to each other, whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears. Hyesung's heart began to beat faster in fury. Dongwan then reached over and wrapped his arms around kei, embracing her. this sent hyesung into more fury, and hyesung abruptly sat up on his bed.

"what is wrong with me?" he scolded himself out loud. "why am I getting so mad? So what if kei and dongwan are together? What do I have to do with that ugly duckling…? Why is she making me so…so…" jealous. He knew the answer, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. "ahhh! I'm not jealous! How can I be jealous of that fool dongwan! Over kei! What a joke! The one I like is not kei, it's soo yung! But why am I thinking about kei! Argh! I can't take this anymore!" he stood up, grabbed his coat, and hurriedly left the room.

chapter 30

"ooh, the place is bangin' tonight!" junjin cried.

The four entered the club again together for the second time. They looked around the club at the excitement and activity going on. junjin was already dancing a little to the reverberating music.

"hey, you guys are back!" amy said as she approached the four. This time, she was dressed in a black halter top, black pant and black boots. Her long hair was loosely framed her long face. "hey, where's your friend K?"

"oh, he's busy today," junjin said, laughing out loud. "instead, we brought another friend. Ironically, ahem, her name's 'kei' too." He stepped aside and behind him stood kei in a red tank and black pants. Her hair was tied into a messy bun. She waved to amy.

"hi kei, welcome to the club," amy greeted. She then looked up to the guys. "so, the usual table?"

"The usual table," andy chirped.

"got it. Follow me." The group followed amy to the table that they were at the night before. A few moments later, a girl came by with their drinks.

"whee! I'm ready to dance!" junjin said. He then looked over to andy who was looking all around the club. He smiled. "looking for dream girl?"

"yeah. I don't see her though. Oh well, there are plenty of hot girls here. But they don't seem to be coming by our table tonight."

"a dance should have them coming like hungry dogs to a steak. Come on andy, let's go show our stuff!" junjin pulled andy out of the booth and onto the dance floor. Kei looked at eric. "you're not gonna go with them?"

eric shook his head. "let those two party animals go at it. I just wanna chill right now."

Kei nodded. "yeah, I'm still kinda tired from everything."

Eric laughed. "aite. but hey, you have to promise me one thing."

Kei looked up at eric. "what's that?"

"promise me a slow dance tonight," he said in a low voice.

Surprise and question filled kei for an instant, and then she calmed down from within. Instincts always made her adrenaline rush a little when she was to make any contact with a guy, but she was beginning to become comfortable with eric and was learning to become more calm and cool around him. She nodded. "oki, sure."

Hyesung sat at the bar downing his third bottle of beer. He looked towards the dance floor and watched the people moving their bodies to the music. Two guys in particular seemed to be the center of attention on the floor, having swarms of girls surrounding them. Hyesung scoffed. They're good, but not that great in dancing…kei's better… hyesung eye's widened. "ugh, why am I thinking about her all the time? Geez, leave me alone!" he then took another long swig of his beer.

A tall girl in all black approached hyesung. "is everything oki sir? Can I get you anything else?" she asked.

"give me one more beer please."

Amy nodded and then left to get hyesung's beer.

Minwoo came back to the dorms, overexhausted. He had gone looking for kei for about 4-5 hours now with no luck. He trudged up the stairs and towards his room. he passed by soo yung's room and saw that the door was open. He looked inside and saw that soo yung was sitting on her bed, holding the phone in her hands. She looked up, saw minwoo, and got up and walked over to minwoo.

"did you find her?"

minwoo shook his head.

Soo yung let out a loud sigh. "hyesung's not here either."

Minwoo looked at soo yung in surprise. "what, he's missing too?"

"I dunno. I went to go look for him earlier today, but he wasn't in his room. I tried calling his cell phone, but he's not picking up."

Minwoo crossed his eyebrows. "call him again. See if he picks this time."

Soo yung nodded and then slowly dialed hyesung's cell number.

Ring ring. Ring ring.

"ugh. Who the heck keeps calling me!" hyesung asked angrily. He pulled out his cell and abruptly flipped it open. "what do you want!"

"hyesung? Oh hyesung where are you? my gosh, how come you don't answer my calls?" soo yung's voice frantically asked.

"hah. Now why would you even want to talk to me in the first place, soo yung? It's not as if you cared for me before."

"hyesung, what are you talking about? Hey, you sound weird. Are you drinking now? Are you drunk? Why is it so noisy in the background? Hyesung, where are you?"

"somewhere. Not like it's any of your concern."

"it IS my concern! Hyesung, why are you being so mean now? Where are you?"

"stuff it, soo yung. You never cared for me before. If you did, you wouldn't have hurt me long ago."

"…"

"hah, nothing to say now huh? All you care about is kei or minwoo. Whenever kei's not around, you trip as if you lost your dog. Whenever minwoo IS around, you guys are all over each other. It's sickening, and it hurts, how you don't consider other people's feelings now," hyesung said in a slurred speech.

"…hyesung, please—"

"don't 'hyesung please' me."

"hyesung…"

"alright everyone, Night Dust is proud to present—" yoori on the stage announced on the stage.

"hyesung!" soo yung cried into the phone, but she was cut off by hyesung closing his phone.

"well, you find out where he is?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung didn't answer minwoo at first. She looked away with a slight grimace on her face. Hyesung wasn't talking very clearly because of his slurred speech, but soo yung had heard every word that hyesung had said.

"hah, nothing to say now huh? All you care about is kei or minwoo. Whenever kei's not around, you trip as if you lost your dog. Whenever minwoo IS around, you guys are all over each other. It's sickening, and it hurts, how you don't consider other people's feelings now."

"soo yung?" minwoo asked again. "are you oki?"

Soo yung snapped back into reality and looked back up at minwoo. She looked into his deep brown eyes that were full of concern now. She then sighed and nodded.

"well, where's hyesung? Did you find out?"

"um…I'm not sure, but I think I heard Night Dust in the background. Hyesung didn't sound…too…good. He was drunk."

Minwoo narrowed his eyes. "it must be Night Dust the night club then. I'll go over there and fetch him. The last thing we need is for him to be missing too."

"I'll go with you," soo yung said.

Minwoo shook his head. "'no, you stay here. It'll be safer for you here."

Soo yung didn't object to minwoo. She slowly sighed and nodded.

Minwoo leant over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be back, oki?" he then left the room while soo yung stood there, hyesung's words playing over and over in her mind.

Hyesung, you're still hurting? After all this time, you're still hurting? Why are we so alike? I'm hurting too…about…dongwan…

"so, did you have fun today kei?" eric asked.

Kei nodded her head. "I haven't been so at ease for a long time. I feel real comfortable and relaxed with you three."

Eric smiled. "yeah, you can't be serious all the time with those goofs. Gotta love them."

Kei smiled. "but I notice that you're the more serious one out of the three. You only joke around with andy and junjin when it comes to dancing."

"um, yeah. I guess I do tend to be the more serious one."

"I find that kinda funny really. But you three get along with each other so well."

"ha, yeah I guess. Well, you know that I've known junjin for a long time. We've been best buds for as long as I can remember. We both went to the same schools and all, now city college. We met andy when we came here for the first time. Then the three of us just hung out a lot. We're trying to put together a dance group."

"really? that's great."

"heh, I guess. There's nothing else I'm real good at."

Kei smiled. "I'm pretty sure there are other things."

Eric shook his head. "nah. I'm a lost cause. My folks disowned me once they found out that I didn't get into the university. I didn't care too much for it, but they went ballistic. They thought, 'no university, no future.' Everything else was junk to them, including city college. It bugged me so much. That's why I decided to move out with junjin. Ever since then, life's been good."

"that's good. As long as you're happy now, I guess."

Eric reached back and scratched his head. "well, how about you? are you happy now?"

kei looked up at eric. She did not answer.

"kei? You're not happy?"

kei lowered her head. "if I said I was happy, I'd be lying," she softly said.

"why?"

kei sighed. She looked up at eric, into his questioning eyes. She saw the concern in his eyes.

Fat ugly dog.

Blinking back her hot moistening eyes, she said, "eric, I'm not happy because I'm ugly."

Eric's eyebrows crossed. "what? You're not ugly. Why in the world would you believe that?"

"because someone said so."

"what? Who's the fool that said that? You are not ugly. You are very pretty."

"don't lie. I know I'm not."

"I'm not lying. You're very pretty, and the fact that you're a very good and nice person inside makes you even prettier."

Kei looked up at eric. "thanks for trying to make me feel better. But I know that I can't fool myself."

"because you're lying to yourself all the time. You're a pretty person, no questions asked.

"eric—"

"don't argue with me. I don't know who put that silly idea in your head."

"eric—"

"I don't wanna hear anymore. Look, a slow song's on now. How about that slow dance you promised me?"

kei looked at eric. She had only gotten to know eric for a day, yet he was treating her so nice and being so protective of her. she then nodded to eric. She got up and followed eric to the dance floor and they merged in with the crowd dancing to the slow song.

Minwoo walked into Night Dust and looked around for hyesung. He found hyesung sprawled on the bar. He walked over to the bar.

"hyesung. Hyesung," minwoo said, tapping him on the shoulder. "oi, hyesung!" but minwoo found the hyesung was dead out. Minwoo then plopped on the seat next to him and looked out to the dance floor, watching the people in pairs dancing to the slow song. Minwoo's mind subconsciously thought back to the night when he danced to a slow dance with kei.

"but all this time, I wanted one thing…"

"what?"

"…your forgiveness. I never got a chance to ask you for it because you wouldn't talk to me. and then you moved away. I was so sad, because I know that what I did costed you-"

"don't say anymore," kei interrupted. "I don't wanna hear it."

"I know, I understand." Minwoo stopped moving to the beat and stood there with kei still in his hands. "what happened in the past is my life's biggest regret, and all I want now is your forgiveness."

Kei didn't answer.

"please kei. I want to be friends again. I want you to talk to me, laugh with me, dance with me…I hate myself for what I did before but…I want you back as a friend. Please don't avoid me anymore…" minwoo took her by the shoulders and made her face him. Kei lifted her head, showing off her cheeks, which were saturated with her tears.

"I, I'm sorry minwoo. I don't know if I can...not when yoojin is…" Without finishing what she was going to say, kei walked away and left the club.

Minwoo sighed. "kei, where are you? do you know that you're killing me inside by being missing?"

Minwoo's eyes scanned through the crowd until they came to an abrupt halt. A guy wearing a cap and dressed in a leather jacket and baggy slacks was dancing with a girl in a red tank and black pants.

Kei! Minwoo realized. He looked at hyesung's passed out body and then hastily got up from the bar and hurried over to the dance floor.

"I want you to forget about everything that's making you unhappy, oki?" eric said as he placed his hands on kei's waist. "from this moment on as you dance, you will dance it all away, got it?"

kei looked up at eric and nodded. She then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and placed her chin on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and moved along with eric as they danced to the slow song.

Eric, you've been so good to me. You're just like an older brother that I've never had, and junjin and andy have been like little brothers. Kei smiled at this thought. junjin and andy would probably flip if they heard her say that. I've been so relaxed for these past couple of days. I wish that I can always be like this, at ease and happy. I don't want to go back. I will do as you say eric. I will forget the past. I will forget the past…

"kei!"

kei's eyes shot open and before her stood minwoo. She inaudibly gasped. Minwoo?

Eric turned around and saw minwoo standing behind him. His eyes went wide in amazement. "lee minwoo?" he asked surprised.

Minwoo looked at the guy that stood before him, the one dancing with kei. eric mun? he thought to himself in surprise. Minwoo's eyes then looked to kei in surprise. Kei looked back at minwoo with forlorn eyes.

Minwoo…you…you're here, before me, kei thought to herself sadly.

Kei and eric let go of each other and kei walked up to minwoo. "minwoo, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"kei, where have you been? do you know that we've been looking ALL over for you for the past couple of days? we've all been so worried about you! gosh, I thought that something happened to you!" minwoo exclaimed. He abruptly grabbed kei and hugged her tight, making kei's eyes widen even more.

Minwoo…

Minwoo pulled back. He then looked up at eric. "long time no see eric."

Eric, who had been standing back all this time, simply waved to minwoo.

Minwoo looked to kei. "let's go home. Soo yung's worried sick about you."

kei looked at minwoo with tiny dread, but she nodded. "yes. It's time that I go back home." She then walked over to eric. "sorry, I have to go now. Thanks for everything eric. I've felt so much better these past couple of days because of you, junjin, and andy."

Eric nodded. "hey, hold on." He took out a pen and his wallet. He took out a dollar bill and wrote some numbers on it. "here's my number. Call me sometime to go hang out, oki? Keep in touch. Junjin and andy would want to also, k?"

Kei nodded. "thanks. Tell them I said bye too, oki?"

Eric nodded. "cya later."

"bye eric." Kei then turned and walked over to minwoo. Minwoo led her over to the bar where hyesung still laid. He then picked up hyesung on his back and he and kei walked out of the club.

The night sky was partly hidden by an overcast of dark clouds. Minwoo and kei walked side by side in silence, minwoo carrying an unconscious hyesung on his back. The night was silent. Not even normal night noises like cars or strays or crickets chirping were present as they walked through the dark night.

After 4 or 5 blocks, kei spoke up. "how…how did you find me?"

"…I had to come get hyesung."

"hyesung?"

"yeah. We found out that he was drunk at Night Dust. I came to fetch him, and then I saw you there with eric mun."

"I see…"

"how did you meet up with eric mun again? Or, have you've known him all this time?"

"oh no. I bumped into him, junjin, and another guy named andy yesterday at the arcade."

Minwoo's eyes widened in surprise. "arcade? The one that's about 7 miles away from the dorms? You walked 7 miles?"

"did I?" kei then drifted off into her own thoughts.

They walked in silence again. Kei noticed that they were starting to go at a slower pace because of minwoo's carrying hyesung.

"um…do you need help?"

"huh? Oh, no. hyesung may be taller than me, but he's very light. I can han…dle him."

"oki then…"

they continued walking, their pace getting slower and slower.

Kei had a sad look on her face. She looked over and looked at hyesung's face.

"Fat ugly dog."

Those words had pierced me. They hurt so much. As true as they are, it just hurts so much that he said them to me when before, he was so nice. Why, hyesung? Why are you causing me so much hurt? Kei stared blankly forward again.

Minwoo had some troubling thoughts of his own.

Kei…i…i…what is this feeling that I have now? After seeing you dance with eric back in the club, all the memories of the past are coming back to me…the dance practices afterschool, the school festival, yoojin's death…and I've come to realize…how…important you are…to me…how much you really mean to me…

They finally reached the dorms and they approached the stairs when minwoo's legs collapsed under him. He fell to the ground, as well as hyesung's body.

"oh my god!" kei rushed over and took minwoo's arm, helping him up to his feet. "are you oki?" she asked frightened.

Minwoo looked up at kei. He stared into her concerned eyes, ones that were concerned about him.

Kei…your eyes…are beautiful…

"are you oki?" kei asked again softly.

Minwoo finally nodded.

Kei let out a sigh of relief. She then looked down and saw that she was still holding onto minwoo. She suddenly let go at realizing her contact with him. Minwoo just stared dumbly at his arm, still feeling kei's touch on his arm.

"um…I guess I'm more tired than I thought," minwoo softly said. "I've spent the past two days looking for y—"

kei's eyes suddenly turned sad. Looking for me… she thought to herself. She lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly.

Minwoo shook his head, his eyes glued to kei's downcast eyes. He had a strong urge to take kei into his arms and hug her until she understood that he had looked for her willingly. However, he had to fight the urge. Instead, he slowly placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"it's oki. I just need some rest. Here, help me with hyesung." Kei nodded and they both each took hyesung by an arm and dragged him up the dorm stairs.

"why couldn't the elevator work now?" minwoo grumbled.

"I know. It would be perfect now," kei said.

Minwoo looked over to kei. Her eyes were looking at the stairs, careful that she wouldn't slip and send hyesung on his way to get another fat bruise on his forehead. A gaze at her profile somehow gave minwoo unknown strength in his legs to make it up to the top of the flight of stairs. As they reached the top, minwoo saw kei turn her head. Minwoo's heart began to beat faster. Oh, he longed to see those pretty eyes of her again…

But he saw the pretty eyes stop on hyesung. Minwoo's heart took a plunge and a rush and shiver went shooting down his spine. He watched as kei's eyes looked to hyesung's pitiful and unconscious face with utmost concern, almost lovingly. Minwoo's mind became instantly cluttered with emotions.

Is…is she looking at him with just care, or more than care? Does…does she like him? Oh kei. Kei, if your eyes were to look at me now, would they be the same? Would they be as loving as they look now?

They quickly and quietly made it down to the end of the hall to minwoo and hyesung's room. still holding hyesung up, minwoo quickly unlocked the door and he and kei hurried and laid hyesung on his bed. Minwoo fell back and plopped onto his bed, exchausted from all the work he had to do. Kei reached down, grabbed a hold of hyesung's legs and brought them onto the bed. She took off his shoes and and gently placed his feet on the bed. She then reached over and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt so he could breathe better. She brought his blanket over him and tucked him in.

As kei did all this, minwoo watched her with careful eyes. When she had unbuttoned hyesung's collar, a rush of emotion rushed through his body. His heart felt tight when he watched her tuck him in. She was now brushing some loose strands of hair out of hyesung's face, and seeing that, minwoo couldn't take it anymore.

"I think he's going to be mad when he finds that bruise on his he—"

kei was unable to finish her sentence for a pair of strong arms abruptly wrapped around her waist. The arms forcibly pulled her back against a wall of muscles and a head of blonde red hair next to her head. surprise and shock sent her eyes wide and bells wildly rang in her head.

"kei…" minwoo softly whispered. Kei's eyes became even wider at the sound of minwoo's low and husky voice. Minwoo buried his face in kei's hair, inhaling in its scent. He nuzzled his nose deeper into her hair, finding its way to her neck. Kei shivered at the foreign touch of his nose against her neck.

"kei…oh kei…"

"minwoo…no…what are you doing?" kei softly asked back fearfully.

"kei…I'm so sorry…"

sorry? Sorry for what?

"I'm sorry for all the pain that I've put you through in the past over yoojin…I'm sorry…"

"minwoo…i…I don't blame you for yoojin's death…I've forgiven you…I know you regret what you did…" kei softly said, feeling tears well up in her eyes at the mentioning of yoojin.

Kei felt minwoo shake his head from side to side against the curve of her neck. "no…but that's not my biggest regret…"

Kei's eyes widened. What? Yoojin's death is not your biggest regret? How…how could you say that?

"kei…do you know what my biggest regret is?" he said in the same husky tone. "My biggest regret…is not realizing up until now…how much you mean to me…"

kei's gave an involuntary gasp. Before she knew it, minwoo took kei and spun her around so she faced him. He held her firmly by the arms and looked intensely into her eyes.

Your eyes…are so beautiful…

minwoo's face began to inch closer and closer to kei's. his eyes slowly started to close while kei's eyes slowly started to widen. Right as minwoo's lips lightly brushed against hers, kei abruptly turned her face away and pushed minwoo away from her. minwoo stumbled back away from kei, surprise in his eyes.

Kei turned and face minwoo again with emotional and confused eyes. She then picked up her feet and ran out of the room. minwoo plopped onto his bed and buried his face into his hands.

"what have I done?"

minwoo realized that there was a great chance that kei disappeared again, but he couldn't bring himself to go after kei. He stayed sitting on his bed, raking his hands through his blonde red hair.

"what have I done? What have I done?"

minwoo then looked up at hyesung's sleeping figure. Hyesung laid peacefully in his bed with the covers tucked up to his chin. Minwoo stared at hyesung's closed eyes, at the strands of hair that kei had brushed aside. He thought back to the day when he, hyesung, soo yung, and kei went out to the karaoke bar to sing, how she had dressed nice, how hyesung and her walked off together, how hyesung offered her a tissue when she cried after she sang, and how looked at hyesung when they were coming up the stairs 10 minutes ago. Minwoo thought back to what soo yung had said to him before.

"you know, I think hyesung and kei should really get together."

A pain stabbed into minwoo's heart. "why do I hurt so much now? Why now?"

from chapter 30...

keido you know what my biggest regret is? he said in the same husky tone. My biggest regret is not realizing up until now how much you mean to me

kei's gave an involuntary gasp. Before she knew it, minwoo took kei and spun her around so she faced him. He held her firmly by the arms and looked intensely into her eyes. Your eyes are so beautiful

minwoo's face began to inch closer and closer to kei's. his eyes slowly started to close while kei's eyes slowly started to widen. Right as minwoo's lips brushed against hers, kei abruptly turned her face away and pushed minwoo away from her. minwoo stumbled back away from kei, surprise in his eyes.

Kei turned and face minwoo again with emotional and confused eyes. She then picked up her feet and ran out of the room. minwoo plopped onto his bed and buried his face into his hands.

what have I done?

minwoo realized that there was a great chance that kei disappeared again, but he couldn't bring himself to go after kei. He stayed sitting on his bed, raking his hands through his blonde red hair.

what have I done? What have I done?

minwoo then looked up at hyesung's sleeping figure. Hyesung laid peacefully in his bed with the covers tucked up to his chin. Minwoo stared at hyesung's closed eyes, at the strands of hair that kei had brushed aside. He thought back to the day when he, hyesung, soo yung, and kei went out to the karaoke bar to sing, how she had dressed nice, how hyesung and her walked off together, how hyesung offered her a tissue when she cried after she sang, and how looked at hyesung when they were coming up the stairs 10 minutes ago. Minwoo thought back to what soo yung had said to him before.

you know, I think hyesung and kei should really get together.

A pain stabbed into minwoo's heart. why do I hurt so much now? Why now?

chapter 31

Kei hurried out of the dorms, not wanting to face minwoo or soo yung. Her mind was a mess, the event that just happened just sinking into her brain. She was baffled at what to do when minwoo leaned over to kiss her, and she could only bring herself to run out of the dorms again.

She walked down the dark sidewalk, going wherever her legs would take her. waiting at a red light, she looked up towards the grey sky. No stars tonight. yoojin

ma'am, do you have any spare change?

kei looked to her side and saw a dirty and messy bum holding a cup out to her. she reached into her pocket and pulled out a dollar and placed it into his cup. She had always given money to the needy, no matter how happy or horrible she felt herself.

god bless, the bum said and walked away.

Kei then turned and looked forward. The light had turned green, but she didn't proceed across the street. Instead, she sat down on the sidewalk curb, not caring if any cars were to come and run over her feet. She sat there on the curb, tears sliding down her cheeks. She looked up at the sky again.

yoojin soo yung my two best friends I have betrayed you both I'm a horrible friend, a horrible person

°I want you to forget about everything that's making you unhappy, oki? eric said as he placed his hands on kei's waist. °from this moment on as you dance, you will dance it all away, got it?"

"gosh eric, I can't forget about the past. I almost did, but minwoo Yoojin¡'s death will always stay with me.

°here's my number. Call me sometime to go hang out, ok? Keep in touch. Junjin and andy would want to also, k?

She reached into her pocket, but her eyes widened when she realized that it was empty. She had given the dollar to the bum. what the heck? Ahh that was utterly stupid of me. sigh. I could really use talking to eric right now. Now I don't think I'll ever see him again.

HONK! HONK!

Kei sharply looked to her left and saw a pair of headlights shining at her. she raised her arm to block the brightness. There was a great screech of tires

Kei closed her eyes. Oh no, I'm gonna get hit

Kei heard a car door slam. She slowly opened one eye. The headlights were still glaring at her. the sound of hurried footsteps sounded around the car. A shadowy figure approached her direction.

"oh my gosh, please let me not hit anyokei!"

kei opened both eyes and looked up at the shadowy figure. She spotted the strong build and the short black hair. "dongdongwan?"

dongwan walked up to where kei sat on the curb. "oh my gosh it's you. are you okay? Did I hit you? what are you doing out here by yourself?" bombarding kei with questions, dongwan knelt down beside her and saw her red puffy eyes and tear-stained face. "what's wrong?"

kei reached up and wiped her face. "nothing. Nothing at all," she said.

Dongwan looked at kei, not taking his eyes off her puffy eyes. He exhaled slowly. "fine. Let's get you home," he said as he reached for her arm and started to get up. Kei shook her head. Dongwan knelt back down again. "what's the matter? Don't you wanna go back home?"

Kei shook her head again. "no. I don't wanna go back home."

Dongwan looked at kei concerned. "um so what do you want to do then? You can't stay out here. It's too cold and dangerous out here," dongwan said.

Kei didn't answer.

Dongwan thought for a little bit. "how about this. You wanna come to my place then?"

Kei looked up at dongwan. He looked back at her with concerned and sincere eyes. She then lowered her head and nodded.

"okilet's go then." Dongwan took kei by the arm and they both got up to their feet. They walked over to the car and got in.

"you sure you dn't wanna home?" dongwan asked again as he buckled his seatbelt.

Kei fastened her seatbelt, looked over to dongwan and nodded. I don't think I can face minwoo, soo yung, or hyesung now.

"just checking." Dongwan then started the car and they took off.

"just make yourself at home," dongwan said as they entered his room. kei slowly walked into the room after dongwan. Dongwan flipped on the light switch and kei took a good look around the room. two beds on each side of the room with a desk beside each, and surprisingly for a guys' room, it was real nice and tidy. No stray books, papers, dirty clothes, or miscellaneous objects were lying in the room.

dongwan glanced over and laughed. "you must be wondering how a guys' room can be so clean. My roomie's really clean. He picks up after my stuff too. He seems to like it or something, haha."

Kei just nodded. "dongwan, where's the bathroom?"

"oh, it's down the hall," dongwan answered.

"thanks." Kei then exited the room and made her way down to the bathroom. She let herself in and walked up to a sink. She turned on the water and started splashing the water onto her face. She then placed her hands on the sides of the sink and leaned forward, staring at her appearance in the mirror before her. she was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair unruly, and the color in her face gone. She ran both her hands through her hair.

minwoo, I don't understand. What had just happened? I'm confused and scared. what am I supposed to do?

she splashed some more water onto her face. She reached for a paper towel and wiped her face. She took one more glance at her face in the mirror and then let herself out of the bathroom.

"yeah, I figured that since you spend more time out of the room that you wouldn't mind if my friend stayed over for the nighta girlgosh, don't get all excited and everything, I want her to sleep in YOUR bed, not like 2 people would be able to fit on one bedno, I'm NOT like youanywayz, are you coming back tonight? Good, she's sleeping on your bed thenalright, thanks man. Late." Dongwan hung up the phone as kei walked back into the room. he looked up to kei. "feeling better?" he asked.

Kei gave a slight nod. "I'm really sorry that I'm causing you so much trouble" she started to say.

Dongwan shook his head. "no, it's no trouble at all. My roomie hasn't been back for the whole weekend now and he's not gonna be back tonight. So, you're gonna get his bed for the night, oki?"

Kei nodded. "thank you," she slightly thanked.

Dongwan shook his head. "it's nothing. Oh, do you think you should call soo yung?"

Kei slightly jumped at the mention of soo yung's name. Soo yung

"kei?" dongwan held the portable phone out to her. kei reached out and took the phone from him. After staring at the receiver for a few seconds, she slowly dialed the number back to her room.

"hello?" a tired voice said into the line.

"he..hello, soo yung?"

"KEI! Oh my gosh, where are you! kei, do you know how worried I've been about you for these past few days! where are you now?"

"umI'm oki nowbut I won't be coming back tonightI'm staying with a friend tonight"

"what friend? Who is it?"

"um"

"kei, who's the friend?"

"umsoo yung, I have to go now, I'll be back tomorrow, oki?"

"no, kei wai—"

but kei pressed the off button and hung up on soo yung. Kei stood in her spot motionless on the outside but shaking and shivering on the inside.

"kei, are you oki?" dongwan asked.

Kei looked up at dongwan. She then closed her eyes and noded her head. "yes, I'm oki. Thank you." she handed the phone back to dongwan and dongwan placed the receiver back onto its hook. He held up the clothes that he was holding. "here, change into these. These should be a little more comfortable than what you're wearing right now"

Kei looked down and realized that she was still wearing a red tank top and black pants. She then began to feel a little uneasy and self conscious. She accepted the clothes from dongwan.

"here, I'll step outside now so you can change, oki?" dongwan headed out the door and closed the door behind him.

Kei looked at the closed door. Dongwan, why are you so nice to me? I don't deserve any of this. Kei then changed into the clothes that dongwan had given her. after a few minutes, there was a little knock at the door.

"kei, are you done yet?" dongwan asked from the other side of the door.

Kei folded her own clothes and placed them on a chair. She walked over to the door and opened it. Dongwan stood on the other side and he looked at the large t-shirt and shorts that she wore. He smiled and scratched the back of his neck.

"sorry, I don't really have any clothes that would fit you," he said sheepishly.

Kei shook her head. "this is fine. Thank you dongwan."

"ahh, it's nothing. Here, gimme a few seconds to change into my sleep clothes." He walked into the room while kei remained where she was, looking away from the room. after a few seconds, dongwan came back out of the room with a t-shirt and shorts. "are you hungry?" he asked.

Kei shook her head.

"thirsty?"

kei shook her head.

"tired?"

after a few seconds, kei shook her head again.

"you're not? Your eyes look tired. Well, they're red"

"I knowumcan wejusttalk?"

dongwan narrowed his eyes in concern. "you want to just talk now? Oki. Come on, we'll talk in the room." dongwan led kei back into the room and shut the door behind them.

Kei sat down on dongwan's roomie's bed. Dongwan pulled out his desk chair and placed it next to kei and sat down in it. "sowhat'd you wanna talk about?" he asked.

Kei heaved a great sigh.

"something bothering you?"

kei lowered her head and nodded.

"so what's up?"

kei looked up and stared into dongwan's eyes. Her own eyes began to water again. "dongdongwanIiI'm a really bad friend" she managed to mutter out.

"what, a bad friend? What makes you say that?" dongwan asked, a little surprised.

"iiI betrayed the two best friends that I've ever had"

"betray?"

"iiI don't know how to face her now" kei stared off to space.

"wait, is there one or two friends?"

a tear finally spilled over from her eye. "there's one now. The other one died."

"ohI'm sorry" dongwan said.

"and it's all cuz of my fault that she diedall cuz I stabbed her in the back"

dongwan sighed. "care to tell me what happened?"

kei reached up and wiped her wet eyes. She let out a sigh herself and relayed the whole story of her, yoojin, and minwoo, only she didn't use minwoo's name. She didn't want to expose minwoo to dongwan so she thought of another name to use instead

"so I moved, and I thought that I would never have to see eric again. But"

"but?"

"eric goes to this university."

"he does? Wowwhat a coincidence"

"yeahand I've been having problems still with eric. I've tried to become friends with him again, but it's too hard with how things are now. Too many things have happened"

"I see. How about your other friend? How did you betray her?"

kei looked up and stared at dongwan. she was afraid that dongwan would ask. However, kei couldn't bring herself to talk about soo yung, not when soo yung and dongwan went out in the past. Kei didn't think that she could do that to soo yung

dongwan saw the reluctance in her eyes and nodded. "it's oki. I know it's hard for you to just tell me about your past.

"actually, I don't think you should feel guilty for anything, cuz you had no idea what was going to happen. yoojin should have just realized that eric wasn't the one for her, no matter if you and eric were going out or not. You shouldn't feel responsible for the strong suicidal feelings she had."

"butbut I feel so responsibleit was all because of me"

"no, it wasn't because of you. you did not push yoojin off that roof. She did herself."

More tears shed from kei's eyes.

"look, you have to stop blaming yourself for yoojin's death. It was not your fault."

Kei nodded her head. "I know. And I did start not blaming myself for her death. But" kei began to hysterically cry. Dongwan stood up, went to sit next to kei on the bed and wrapped his arms firmly around her.

"it's oki kei, it's oki. Everything is oki now."

Kei felt herself pulled up against dongwan, her head leaning against his chest. She didn't resist as she normally would if a guy tried to touch her. she wouldn't have even had the strength to do so in the first place. Instead, she remained in dongwan's embrace crying.

After what seemed like forever, kei's cries began to lessen and soon dongwan found her asleep from exhaustion. He gently laid her down on the bed and tucked her in. he then got up and went to the other bed. He sat down on the edge and just stared at kei's sleeping figure in the other bed. After a few moments, he himself laid down on his own bed and went to sleep.

Chapter 32

The next morning

A car pulled up in front of the dormitory. The passenger door opened and a figure stepped out. He slammed the door shut and proceeded into the dormitory. He trudged up the stairs and reached the 4th floor. He walked down the quiet hall and stopped before a door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He stuck it into the keyhole and let himself into the room.

In the room, he set his keys on the desk, took off his jacket and threw it onto a chair. He glanced over to the bed on his right, which was empty. He then made his way to the other bed. He took off his shirt, loosened his belt, and literally dropped his whole body onto the bed, only to find himself land on a soft but firm surface instead of the usual springy surface of the bed.

"ow!" a voice yelped.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!" andy literally rolled off the bed in surprise and landed on the floor with a loud thud. "what the? Dongwan you freak, you were sleeping on my bed? What the heck? Why do you sound like a girl?"

"who sounds like a girl?" a voice asked.

Andy looked up towards the doorway and saw a dongwan standing in the doorway with his hair wet and a towel slung over his shoulder.

"dongwan? what the? If you're there, then who's?" andy asked confused as he started to sit up, rubbing his head.

"geez andy, were you drunk last night or do you just have a bad memory? My friend stayed over for the night. that's why I called you so I can get the bed for her."

andy rubbed his head. "oh yeah huhnow I remember." He turned toward his head. Moans of pain came from under the covers. Andy started to uncover the blanket.

"oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were underkei?" andy looked with wide eyes at kei who was laying in the bed, grimacing in pain. "kei, it's you? you're dongwan's friend?"

kei tried to open her eyes, but they were too swollen from the excessive crying the night before. She turned towards the direction of the voice. "andy?" she softly asked.

"oh my gosh, it is you. butwhat happened? Why are your eyes sosodifferent? They're so puffy and your face is so paleyou weren't like that yesterdaywhat happened? Why did you leave early? Where did you go?"

"iI had to go home" kei said.

"butyou're here tho" andy said, becoming confused.

Kei turned towards the wall without answering. Andy looked up at dongwan. dongwan slowly walked into the room and shook his head at andy, indicating to not ask any more. Andy nodded, showing that he understood. "uh, oh yeah, sorry again that I kinda plopped on ya there, kei. I forgot that you were gonna be in my bed."

Kei slowly sat up in the bed. "it's oki," kei said painfully. "I'm oki, really. Butmy back kinda hurts"

"oh my gosh, are you for real?" andy said surprised. "are you hurting bad?"

at the mention of being hurt, dongwan rushed over to kei's side. "you're hurt kei? What happened?" he started to feel kei's back, inspecting it. Kei stopped moaning and jumped at dongwan's touch.

Dongwan abruptly turned to andy. "man andy, look what you did! You really hurt kei!"

Andy threw up his hands in defense. "I'm sorry man, but I really didn't—"

"I can't believe you and—"

"It's oki. I don't hurt that bad," kei interrupted.

Dongwan turned back to kei. "are you sure?"

kei nodded.

Dongwan let out a relieved sigh. "good then. Are you still tired?"

"a little"

"you go back to sleep then. Andy, you can sleep on my bed for now. I have to go out now anywayz."

"but your bed's so hard" andy started to whine.

Dongwan gave andy the evil look.

Andy cringed. "your bed's just fine," andy quickly recovered and said.

"alrighty then. I'll be back soon, oki kei?"

kei nodded and she laid back do wn on the bed. Dongwan threw the towel that was around his shoulder onto his desk chair. He then picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He leaned over and looked down at kei. "I'll be back later today. I'll see you later. You rest easy, oki?"

kei nodded again. "bye dongwan."

"bye kei. See ya andy." Dongwan then left the room.

"dang," andy said, still rubbing his head. "I'm really sorry kei. I really didn't mean to"

"it's oki. I'm really oki."

Andy got up from the floor and sat down on dongwan's bed. "so you just went home early yesterday, huh?"

"yeah. I'm sorry that I didn't say bye last night."

"it's oki. Just kinda worried about ya. But not as much as eric was."

"eric?"

"yeah. After you left, eric just kinda sat around. He didn't even dance last night."

"really?"

"yeah. He just acted kinda weird the whole night. You know, when I went over to eric and junjin's place last night, eric was sitting by the phone all night. looked like he was waiting for a phone call or something."

"ohhe might have been waiting for me to call. He gave me his number, but I lost it last night."

"I see. Seems like he really watches out for ya."

Kei didn't answer. She acknowledged eric's growing care for her and didn't exactly know what to make of it. as comfortable as she was when she was with eric, the thought of eric having an interest in her discomforts her. the same went for dongwan. dongwan was another guy that she was comfortable with and she didn't know if dongwan was interested in her or not, but his affectionate gestures to her were pleasant and uncomfortable at the same time

everything was a blur as he tried to open his eyes. He moaned in pain. He blinked and tried to open his eyes again. "man, headache"

hyesung brought his hand up to his head and at the instant he touched his head he jerked it away. "oW! What the heck? Why did it hurt so much?" he then turned his head and squinted at the bed on the other side of the room. as his vision cleared, he saw minwoo sitting cross-legged on his own bed staring up at the ceiling.

"oi, minwoo," hyesung softly called out.

Minwoo looked towards hyesung with no apparent change in his blank expression.

Hyesung closed his eyes again. "ugggghhhh" he moaned. "what happened last night?"

Minwoo didn't answer.

Not hearing an answer, hyesung tried to backtrack the previous day in his head. Everything was a jumble, but he slowly remembered bits and pieces of the day before. The rewriting of the lyrics, the going to the bar, the constant thoughts of keihyesung squeezed his eyes and tried to push the ache in his head away. "I have to stop have these hangovers" he mumbled to himself. Hyesung looked over to minwoo again. "hey minwoo. Diddid kei ever come back yet?"

minwoo's eyes widened at hyesung's question. "no," minwoo answered.

"ohoki then"

minwoo narrowed his eyes at hyesung. Since when did he care about kei? He's always so mean to her.

Hyesung sat up and sat on the edge of his bed. He shook his head. "I'm gonna wash up now." He slipped on some flip-flops and walked out of the room. minwoo stared at hyesung's back as he disappeared out of the room.

Does hyesung like kei? Does kei like hyesung? Do I like kei? But I can'tI have soo yungand our 4 month anniversary's coming up day after tomorrow. I can't like kei. Sigh. I have to go get soo yung her present today

Hyesung made it to the bathroom. It was empty. Hyesung walked up to a sink, turned on the water, and started splashing cold water against his face. He looked up into the mirror at his reflection.

"what the heck, where did that come from!" hyesung cried as he spotted a big black bruise on his forehead. He reached up and gingerly touched it. "sigh. This is sad. I get a fat bruise on my head and I don't even remember how. No more drinking for mefor a while. Man, why did I even drink in the first place?ohoh yeah" hyesung remembered the constant thoughts of kei. "manwhat the heck?" he splashed some more water onto his face. "why am I thinking of her so much? She's a slut, going out with dongwan and everything. Dongwan, that good-for-nothing moron." Hyesung narrowed his angry eyes at the mirror before him. He then squeezed his eyes shut. "oooohhhhh.headache"

andy rolled over onto his stomach and slowly opened his right eye. "man, what time is it?" he grumbled.

"it's 1 o'clock," a soft voice answered.

"oh, hey, kei. You're still here?" andy sleepily said.

"yeah. I really have nowhere to go."

"huh? You don't have anywhere to go?"

kei shook her head. "I don't know the way home from here."

Andy rolled back onto his back and sat up. "I see." He rubbed his sleepy eyes. "here, gimme 20 minutes. I'll walk you back, k?"

"Idon't wanna go back yet."

Andy squinted one eye at kei. "o-ki. Then whatcha wanna do then? I'm up now."

Kei shrugged.

Andy threw his legs over the side of the bed. "no use staying in the room. dongwan won't be back until later today. Let's just go somewhere, k? I'm pretty hungry now anywayz."

kei looked at andy, who was smiling at her. she saw the innocence and sincerity of his smile, and she smiled herself and nodded her head.

"alright! Get changed," andy said.

"ummI don't have any other clothes but these," kei said, pointing to the red tank and pants. "some stuff spilled onto my pants last night."

"mmmmhere." Andy went over to his closet and pulled out a pair of jeans. "here, you can wear these. What size shoe do you wear? I don't think you can wear your shoes with these jeans. You'll trip and fall for sure."

"I wear a size 10 women's shoe"

"hmmmthat's about a size 9 men's. my shoes will be a little big for you" andy pulled out a pair of adidas superstars. "here, wear these. These are pretty comfortable."

Kei took the jeans from andy. "thanks andy. I'll return your jeans when I wash them."

"sure sure. Hey, wanna call eric and junjin out too? Oh wait, they're busy today, I remember now. Oh well, I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

kei felt a little disappointed that eric and junjin would be busy, but she still smiled at andy. "wouldn't being with me keep you from picking up girls?"

"hey, I can give up picking up girls for a few hours. Right now I'm going to go out to eat with my buddy K," andy said playfully.

Kei gave a small laugh and nodded.

"actuallyyou know what?" andy said.

"hmm?"

"between the two times that you went to the club, more girls came to our table when you were dressed up as a guy."

Kei looked at andy weird. "you're not saying"

a mischievous smile spread across andy's face.

Minwoo came out of the store with a box in his hands. He looked down at the box and sighed.

"minwoo, you have to keep things straight. You are soo yung's boyfriend. Soo yung is the one that you like. The only one," minwoo muttered to himself. Minwoo sighed again. "butwhere are you, kei? I have to talk to you. Why do you always disappear?"

"hey kei, let's go into that store there," a voice cried.

Minwoo looked up at the mention of kei.' He looked around and spotted two guys dressed in baggy clothes walking towards his direction. Minwoo recognized one of them. "andy leehe's in my dance class"

Andy looked up. He spotted minwoo. "oh, hey lee minwoo," he greeted. He walked up to minwoo. Out of the corner of his eye, andy saw that kei stopped walking for a little bit, but she continued to walk next to andy.

"hey andy lee," minwoo said.

"sup. Shopping?" andy asked.

"yeahsorta." Minwoo was confused. He now knew that it was andy that had said kei's name, but minwoo didn't see kei anywhere. The only person around was the guy walking with andy. Minwoo started to look at the guy.

"I see. Oh, um, this is my friend K, as in the letter K," andy said, introducing his companion.

"k?" minwoo asked surprised.

"yeah, K. his name's kenny, but everyone calls him K' for short," andy explained, smiling.

"oh I see. Nice to meet you K," minwoo greeted. The person standing next to andy, who was dressed in a baggy hooded shirt and jeans, didn't make any apparent movement. The face was hidden under the hood and behind a pair of sunglasses.

"anywayz, I guess we'll see ya," andy said. "see ya minwoo."

"see ya andy. Nice to meet you K," minwoo said. The person just followed andy without saying anything. Minwoo stared at the back of K's head.

There's something about that K guy minwoo thought to himself.

Andy whistled as he and kei made their way down the mall. Stares from girls in the mall followed them. Andy looked around and waved to all the girls. Some girls smiled brightly and waved back, and some girls didn't see andy, their eyes glued to andy's companion.

"hey kei, your lil disguise is doing the trick. Hecka chicks are looking this way," andy whispered to kei. Kei didn't answer back and continued walking.

"of course, I know that you would rather be attracting guys instead of girls, but this is great. I'm gonna drag you along now when I mack on girls now. You're like a girl-magnet or something"

kei didn't say anything.

"it's a compliment, really," andy said smiling. He and kei made their way into a music store and they started browsing through the CD's.

"geez kei, it's so hot in here, why don't you take off the hood? You don't need to disguise anymore. I was just joking about checking out girls. I don't need to do that now. Right now" andy said as he picked up a CD, "it's just me and you" he spun the CD on his finger like a basketball. "checking out CDs."

Kei smiled. She reached up and pulled off the hood, releasing her long hair from underneath. She combed her fingers through her hair and straightened it out. "it is hot in here."

"yeah, it is," andy agreed, fanning himself with the CD in his hand.

"oh I'm sorry, the AC in here isn't working, that's why it is a little stuffy in here," a voice said. Andy and kei turned around to find a girl standing behind them. She was dressed in the store uniform and was looking at andy and kei with big eyes and a smile on her face.

"ohuh, hi," andy said with wide eyes of his own.

The girl smiled. "are you two finding everything oki? is there anything I can help you with?"

Andy smiled. "actually, yes there is something that you can help me with" and he walked off with the girl following him. Kei rolled her eyes and continued to browse through the CD's. she stopped her eyes on a bright pink cover with two girls in bright flowery dresses. Kei pulled the cd up from the rack. As One. Kei turned the CD around and looked through the song list. ¡®day by day.' Kei closed her eyes and thought back to the day when she fell asleep in hyesung's room. she thought back to the figure of hyesung's back facing her when he was at the computer, the last thing she saw before she fell asleep. She smiled, but then the smile faded away.

"what are you kidding me? Who would want to look for a fat ugly dog like you? don't flatter yourself."

Kei's lip began to waver a little bit. She placed the CD back onto the rack. She stared blankly at the numerous CDs. She envisioned hyesung's face.

Why do you even bother, kei? Look at hyesung, then look at yourself. Hyesung is good-looking while you are fat and ugly. Why should you even be surprised that he called you a fat ugly dog? He was only telling you the truth. Dummy, you shouldn't be heartbroken. What made you think that hyesung would say anything else other than the truth?

you thought he was different? Just because he seemed like a totally different person when he walked you to and from the library, when he went to lunch with you, when he offered you a tissue when you cried at the karaoke bar, you thought that he would accept you, that he would bedifferent

But who are you kidding, kei? With his looks, he could probably pick up an equally good looking girl anytime anywhere if he wanted. Why would he look at a third class piece of trash like you? look in the mirror, kei. You don't have the big eyes, pointed nose, or thin sexy lips. You don't have an hourglass figure. You are not cute or sexy or gorgeous. You're plain and ugly, and you're just fooling yourself if you think that hyesung would take a second look at you.

Kei walked down the aisle and her eyes rested upon HOT's 4th album. Kei thought back to minwoo singing aiya.'

Minwoo after almost 3 years, I have finally managed to forget you, to move onbutbut after last night, I'm so confused nowas much as I know I shouldn't have, you don't know how long I've dreamt of you saying those words to me, how important I was to youI would spend nights awake just envisioning you holding me those two years that I moved away, every night I would think of you and I would feel unbearably guilty at the same time for my feelings for you it was because of my feelings for you that yoojin died she didn't need to dieif there was anyone that needed to die, it should've been me. But now that it's 3 years later, and you did what you did last nightwhy minwoo? What about yoojin? what about soo yung? last night musta been not been real. It can't be real. you musta been drunk, minwoo. There is no way you were thinking straight when you said what you saidthere's no way

"kei?"

kei looked up and almost gasped out loud. "miminwoo?"

"you're hereyou're oki" minwoo said.

"yeah, I'm oki"

an uneasy silence set between the two. Kei lowered her head and looked away from minwoo. Minwoo continued to stare at kei.

Keihere you are again, disappearing and then reappearing before meyou look so sad now you minwoo's eyes traveled down to kei's outfit. Black hooded sweatshirt, bagg jeans, adidaswhat the?

"kei?"

kei looked back up at minwoo.

"are you—"

"there you are."

Kei and minwoo turned around and saw andy approaching them. Andy came up to kei's side, noticing that minwoo was there too. "oh hey minwoo, wussup?"

"hey andy. We meet again." Minwoo turned to kei. "so I guess you're kenny, huh, kei?"

kei lowered her head and andy laughed. "yeah, K's actually a girl. She's not a kenny, although her name is still kei,'" andy said.

"I see," minwoo said, "I know."

"what, you know?" andy said.

"kei and I have known each other since high school."

He narrowed his eyes and they widened in an instant "keilee minwoo oh, I get it! You guys already knew each other because you guys danced in a school festival that eric didn't get first place in!"

"how did you know that?" minwoo asked.

"eric told me that a while ago, but I forgot."

"you're friends with eric mun?" minwoo asked.

"yeah, me, him, and junjin are good buds. You know junjin, right?"

"park junjin," minwoo said, nodding.

"cool. Hey, mebbe we can all get together some time and go out to a club and dance or something," andy said spiritedly.

Minwoo nodded. "sure, sounds like a good idea."

Andy nodded too. He then turned to kei. ready to go? I got tracie's number.

tracie? kei said questioningly.

tracie, that girl, andy said smiling. Kei gave a faint smile.

yeah yeah yeah, I know I know, don't give me that look. Anywayz, ready to go?

kei looked at andy and then looked at minwoo. Minwoo stared back with a solid stare. She then returned to andy. no, I think I should get back home now.

oh, oki. Want me to take you home?

kei shook her head. minwoo'll take me home. We live in the same dorm.

oh really? Well, oki then. I guess I'll see you guys later then, andy said.

wait, wait. Can you give me your phone number and eric and junjin's? kei asked.

Andy smiled. sure. He ripped a blank piece of paper off of the slip of paper with tracie's number on it. He then borrowed a pen from a store employee and scribbled some numbers on it.

here you go, andy said. don't lose this one. now that you have our numbers, make sure you keep in touch now, oki?

kei nodded. sure. I will call you guys.

aite, andy winked. I'll see you later. Andy then left the store.

Kei folded the slip of paper and put it in her pocket. She then turned towards minwoo, who looked back at her with seemingly sad eyes. Kei looked away and cleared her throat. um, let's go.

Minwoo turned and headed towards the door, not taking his eyes off of kei. Kei followed behind.

Chapter 33

"aarrgh! Why can't I do this?" hyesung exclaimed. He took the paper before him, crumpled it up, and threw it over his shoulder. "just a simple song! Why can't

I seem to write it? I need it for tomorrow for class, and if I don't get it, I'm dead!" he pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and tried writing on it again, only to find himself still frustrated 10 minutes later.

"ahhh! I give up!" he threw up his arms and leaned back in his chair. He stared irritated at the mess before him. He then grabbed a random CD from his wallet without looking at what it was and popped it into his computer. He sat back in his chair, lifted his head to the ceiling and let out a loud sigh. The CD player, set on shuffle, randomly chose a track.

As One's 'day by day' started to play. Hyesung looked back at the computer in surprise. He had popped in As One's CD. Before he knew it, his thoughts went back to the night when the four were at the karaoke bar, and kei was singing this song.

"kei…" hyesung bit his lip. Hyesung realized that his impression and feelings towards kei were now a jumble. He didn't know what to think of kei now. his

mind told him that kei was bad because she hung out with dongwan, but hyesung felt that something else in him told him otherwise…

"what the heck, hyesung?" he said aloud to himself. "what's there to be confused about? You don't like kei. You like soo yung. what does kei have to compare to soo yung?"

warmth…comfort…tolerance of my attitude… hyesung thought to himself. He then shook his head. "no, she doesn't. how can she give me all that if she's with dongwan?"

she can't if I'm mean to her all the time… hyesung's eyes then widened.

"what are you kidding me? Who would want to look for a fat ugly dog like you? don't flatter yourself."

Hyesung then smacked himself on the forehead. "gosh, if there really wasn't any interest, why would I have said that to her? why would I have gotten so upset? She's not even going out with dongwan…I don't think…

"soo yung is with minwoo now, and she's happily together with him. What are the chances that I have with her? after all these years, after all this time…all I am to soo yung is a good friend, nothing more. Who am I kidding? I don't still like soo yung, not as much as before…but…did…did I actually move on? do…do I like kei? That seems so weird. I never thought that I would like someone like kei. I mean,

soo yung is the only other person that I've ever liked, and she's beautiful. Kei, well, compared to soo yung she's not as beautiful in looks, but…she seems beautiful. She's quiet, but she's so…comforting…and free. She makes me feel free. But…how? Aahhhh…I'm so confused." Hyesung looked around his desk area and spotted a notebook. He reached over and picked it up. He opened it up and opened to the last entry that he wrote.

just got back from the karaoke bar with kei, minwoo, and soo yung. wow…I would've never guessed in a million years that I would hear what I heard tonight. I actually heard kei speak more than 2 sentences. In fact, she was singing! Oh my, what is the world coming? The quiet kei singing. And you know what? It was actually really nice. She doesn't have a very strong voice or anything, but she's not a professional or anything. But it was really, REALLY nice. Soft, of course. But pleasant and pretty. And guess what song she sang? As one's 'day by day.' That was the song that played when she fell asleep on my bed the other day, when I started working on the song…

"hmm…." Hyesung then picked up a pen and started on a fresh page…

"ahh! I can't concentrate!" soo yung cried as she threw her book to the side. She plopped herself onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. "where is kei? I'm so worried about her…I feel like I'm growing farther and farther apart from her. What's happening? I used to know what's going on with her, or at least I thought I did…" soo yung closed her eyes. "I feel so stressed now. Kei hasn't been back for almost 4 days now. And…and…minwoo and my anniversary's coming up…did he remember? Did he forget? Sigh."

Knock knock.

Soo yung got up from her bed and opened the door.

"kei!" she exclaimed, seeing kei and minwoo standing outside the door. Soo yung threw her arms around kei's neck. "oh my gosh where have you been! I've been so worried about you! Don't EVER do that to me again!"

kei, thrown off by the sudden hug, recovered and patted soo yung's back. "don't worry, I won't ever do it again."

"no you won't! two times is enough! I was so worried!" soo yung cried, almost to the point of tears.

"no I won't. I promise." Kei broke out of the embrace. "I'm tired. I want to go to sleep now."

Soo yung nodded. "of course of course. Go sleep."

Kei nodded. "I'll talk to you later." She turned to minwoo. "thank you," she said very softly. She then turned and walked into the room.

Soo yung sighed loudly. "sigh. It's so relieving to have her come back. Where was she?" soo yung asked as she slipped her arm around minwoo's arm.

"I found her at the mall," minwoo monotonously answered.

"ooh…what were you doing at the mall today?" soo yung said. She looked down and saw minwoo holding a brown box.

"oh I went to buy your present," minwoo answered.

"is that it? Lemme see!" soo yung said excited.

Minwoo held the box out of soo yung's grasp. "no…not until Saturday. That's the day of our anniversary. By then you can see it."

Soo yung stuck out her lower lip, but then she smiled. "all good. I'll wait until then."

"I'm tired too. I'm gonna go to my room," minwoo said.

"oki." Soo yung tiptoed and kissed minwoo on the cheek. "get some rest oki minwoo. I know that you've been losing sleep going around looking for kei. Get some rest."

Minwoo just nodded and headed to his room. Soo yung herself walked back into her own room.

Minwoo walked back to his room, holding the box with both hands. He looked at the brown box, narrowing his eyes. As he approached the door, hyesung was coming out of the door.

"whoa. Hey minwoo, you're back?"

minwoo nodded. "where you heading?"

"going to buy something to eat. Want something to eat?"

minwoo shrugged. "get me anything."

Hyesung nodded. "I'll be back." He then headed down the hall and minwoo entered the room. Minwoo sat down at his desk. He fingered the box, feeling the rough cardboard surface of the box. He then placed it down on the desk, got up and walked over to his small closet. He opened it, reached down behind some stuff and pulled out a similar brown box. He sat back down at his desk, staring at the box. He slowly opened it and unwrapped its contents…a glass unicorn figurine.

"hello?"

"hi, is this eric or junjin?"

"I'm sorry, what was that? Can you speak up? I can't hear you."

"is this eric or junjin?"

"yeah, this is junjin. Who's this?"

"it's kei."

"hey! What's up kei, it's you! no wonder I couldn't hear you. you're too quiet, speak up. so what's up?"

"nothing much. just thought I'd call."

"awww. You miss me already huh."

Kei smiled. "actually I guess I kinda do huh."

Junjin laughed. "yeah I knew it. You just can't resist me, I know it. I'm handsome, dark, buff, and a great dancer…it's such a sin." He laughed again.

Kei laughed also. "is eric there?"

"oh yeah, hold on." After a few seconds, a low voice said into the phone. "hello?"

"hi, eric?" kei asked.

After a few seconds, eric then spoke again. "you don't sound like yoori. Who are you?"

"it's, uh, it's kei," kei softly said.

"kei! Hey, you called! Gosh, junjin said it was yoori and I didn't want to answer the phone at first. He shoulda told me it was you."

"mm hmmm…um…I heard from andy that you looked like you were waiting for my call last night. Sorry, I, uh, lost your number."

"you did? Aww, kei…"

"I'm sorry. I, um,I accidentally gave the dollar to a bum."

There was a silence for a few seconds. Then there was a sudden burst of laughter. "you gave my number to a bum?"

kei sheeishly smiled to herself. "yeah…i…uh…uh…"

"haha, don't feel bad kei. Mebbe in the midst of all the girls that junjin gives this number to that call, junjin may find the bum to be his destined one instead."

"I heard that!" kei heard junjin's voice in the background. She laughed.

"anyways, so what are you doing now?" eric asked.

"I just got back to my dorm."

"huh? Just got back?"

"umm…yeah…I stayed at andy's place yesterday."

"huh? Wait, how did you end up at andy's place? you know where he lives?"

"uhh…" kei looked at the corner of her eyes at soo yung without soo yung noticing. "it's a long story," kei said.

"really. Hey, you busy now?"

"umm…no…"

"you want to come with me somewhere? I think it'd be better if you come with me this time instead of junjin."

"uh…where exactly are we going?"

"look, don't ask. Just trust me, I know that you'll want to go. Come with me…"

"uhh…sure I guess."

"aite, I'll come pick you up."

after telling eric where her dorm was, kei hung up the phone.

"kei…"

kei looked up at soo yung who stood before her. "hmmm soo yung?"

"are you going out again?"

"yeah…but don't worry, I promise that I will come back.

"oh, you're not tired?"

kei slowly shook her head. "I'm only gonna be out for a little bit. I'm going with my friend eric somewhere."

They were silent for a minute.

"eric? Do I know this eric?"

"I don't think so. He's someone from high school."

"oh. When are you guys going?"

"I dunno. He didn't say…"

"oh…oki then." Soo yung walked over and sat down next to kei. 'so where did you go these few days? I was so worried about you."

"…I stayed at my friends' place…at eric's place."

"oh…uh…so is eric…you know…"

"is eric what?"

"…an interest?"

"an interest? Um, no, he's not an interest."

"oh. Oki then. Kei, I—"

soo yung got cut off by the phone ringing. Soo yung picked up the phone. She listened to the receiver and then hung up the phone. She faced kei. "looks like your ride's here already. Eric's waiting for you downstairs now."

"oki then." Kei got up, took her bag and headed towards the door. "I'll be back."

"you promise?" soo yung said.

"I promise." And kei left the room. Soo yung walked over to the window and looked outside. She saw kei come out of the building and walk up to a guy dressed in a black muscle shirt and white corduroy pants. They both walked together to a car parked at the curb, got in and drove off. Soo yung sighed.

Hyesung started out the door of the dorm, but he reached into his pocket and found it empty. "hmmm…don't think I can buy anything to eat without money." He turned around to head back up to the room. Just when he turned around, he saw someone come down the stairs, a familiar shadow. "kei?" without knowing why, he walked over to the side and hid behind a pillar.

Kei walked out of the dorms. Hyesung walked up to the glass doors and peered out. He watched as she approached an unfamiliar guy standing outside of the dorms. They greeted each other and then started walking off to the streets. Hyesung came out from behind the pillar, watching kei and the guy get into the car and drive off. Hyesung had an unhappy frown on his face.

Since when did she become a popular one?

"so where exactly are we going?" kei asked as she looked over to the driver's side.

Eric stared expressionlessly at the road. "just out for a late lunch, early dinner, whatever you prefer."

"oh." Kei turned and faced the road herself. she then faced eric again, seeing the tension on his face. something's up, kei told herself.

Eric pulled the car into a parking lot of a restaurant. They both got out of the car and walked into the restaurant. They got seated at a booth and ordered their orders.

"so," eric said, leaning back on his seat. "how've you been since the last time I saw you?"

kei looked at eric. "I've been…oki…"

"oki? What were you doing at andy's last night?"

"umm…"

"don't tell me you and andy are…"

kei looked up at eric. "no no, it's not what you think."

Eric laughed. "then what is it?"

kei sat back down in her seat and looked at her lap. "I, uh, I know his roommate."

"ahh…dongwan, isn't it?"

"…yeah…"

"and you just know him, or do you KNOW him?"

kei didn't answer right away. "I, uh, I just know him."

"I see. So that why dongwan called andy last night to tell him not to go back home. You were the friend that was staying over?"

kei slowly nodded her head.

Eric looked at kei. "so are you just trying to get to know him better or something or what?"

Kei didn't answer.

Eric sat back in his seat. Their drinks came. Eric, seeing that kei still had her head faced down, picked up his pepsi. "hey."

Kei looked up.

Eric smiled at kei, keeping his intent gaze on her. "look, just relax, oki? Here, take up your drink and cheers, hmm?" he gestured his drink towards her. kei then smiled at eric and picked up her own drink.

"cheers," she said, clanging her glass against his.

Their food came a few moments later and they chowed down. As she ate her meal, kei noticed that eric looked stressed and preoccupied as he ate.

As they neared finishing their meals, kei spoke up. "eric, is something wrong?"

Eric looked up. kei was uncertain, but she felt that their was a hint of hurt in his eyes. eric set his food down on his plate and leaned back in his seat. He let out a loud sigh, and then looked at kei in the eyes again.

"kei, how close are you to lee minwoo?"

kei's eyes widened at eric's question. "I'm…I'm sorry? What was that?"

eric shook his head. "never mind. Forget I asked." Eric looked away.

"no no…what did you just ask? How close am I to minwoo?"

eric just shook his head. "no, forget it."

Kei looked at eric confused. Why…why would he ask? Kei looked at eric as he downed his pepsi.

"oh…uh…so is eric…you know…"

"is eric what?"

"…an interest?"

"an interest? Um, no, he's not an interest."

kei shook that thought out of her mind. That's impossible…eric can't be interested in me…he cares about me, but it seems more like as an older brother, not as an interest…right? No…I know it. He's not interested in me. my gut feeling tells me he's not. Still, I still don't feel right…

eric placed his glass onto the table. "done yet?"

kei nodded. "I'm full."

Eric nodded and turned around in his seat. "check please."

Gosh, why can't I get her out of my mind?

Hyesung sat on the ledge of the roof of the dorms and stared out at the night sky and the city lights below. His legs dangled off the edge of the ledge and he had empty soda cans around him. "this is pathetic," he muttered to himself. "I'm sitting here on the roof of the dorms mourning over my pathetic love life and drinking myself to death of pepsi. How much worse can a guy get?" he hung his head and looked out at the streets. He scoffed at himself. "get a grip on yourself, hyesung. You're losing it over seeing kei walk off with a strange dude. What's wrong with you? why are you letting kei get to you like this?" he shook his head and got up to his feet. He headed back to the stairs that led back into the dorms. He walked down the stairs to his floor. He sauntered into his room, finding minwoo sitting at his desk.

Minwoo turned around in his chair when he heard hyesung come into the room. "oh, hey," he greeted when he saw hyesung.

"hey," hyesung said back as he closed the door behind him and walked over to his own desk and sat down. Hyesung glanced over at minwoo's desk, where two brown boxes rested on top. "what are in the boxes?" he asked.

Minwoo looked over at hyesung. "wha? Oh, these? Soo yung's present," he replied softly.

"soo yung's present huh? For what?"

"Saturday's our four month anniversary," minwoo said even more softly.

"I see." Hyesung glanced over at his keyboard and picked up the small stack of sheet music lying on top. He narrowed his eyes at the sheet music. Minwoo saw the sheet music. "homework?" he asked.

"this? Naw, just some stuff I put together," hyesung answered softly.

"uh huh. Can I hear it?"

"huh? Uh…not done yet. Mebbe when I'm done, aite?"

minwoo shrugged. "sure." He then stared off into space.

Hyesung looked at minwoo. "you aite?"

Minwoo's head popped up. "huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"uh huh. Anywayz, I'm going to sleep."

"aite. Nite dude."

"nite."

Hyesung jumped into his bed and covered his head with the blanket. He laid there, but did not go to sleep. Instead, images played in his head, of a certain person. Minwoo remained in his chair, staring at the two cardboard boxes on his desk.

Chapter 34

Click click.

Soo yung looked up from her bed and saw kei coming into the room. Soo yung sat up in her bed. "you're back, kei."

Kei looked up and saw soo yung looking at her. "oh hey soo yung. You're still up?"

"mm, yeah. I just got into bed."

"I see." Kei set her bag onto her bed and started to change into her sleep clothes.

"so what'd you and eric do today?"

"nothing. Just had dinner and went walking around downtown."

"uh huh, I see. So…nothing happened?"

kei slipped on a shirt and looked at soo yung. "no, nothing happened. Why, what are you thinking?"

a small grin spread across soo yung's face. "oh nothing. Nothing at all. I'm going to sleep. Nite." Soo yung winked at kei and then laid down in bed to sleep.

Kei finished changing into her sleep clothes. She sat down at her desk and let out a big sigh. She then opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out her diary.

Two days later…

Soo yung drowsily woke up from sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her room. Kei's bed was empty.

"where did she go so early in the day?" soo yung glanced over to her alarm clock. 1:49pm. "heh, oops. It's not that early. Oh well. Geez, she was gone all yesterday too with that eric guy. There's gotta be something going on between the two of them." Soo yung slowly got out of her bed, rubbing her head. She stood up and saw a note on kei's desk.

Out with eric. Will be back at 5. K.

"now I know for sure there's something between those two." Soo yung walked over to her closet and stared in the mirror that was hung up on the wall. "eww, I look like a mess," she grumbled to herself. suddenly, the frown on her face turned into a smile. "it's Saturday. It's been 4 months now." She looked over to her desk, at the small light blue box sitting upon it. "I hope he likes it."

Minwoo ran his hand through his hair. He then rested his face in his hands. "what am I supposed to do? What do I want?" he asked himself. "is this what I want?" he slowly got up from his position on the bed and walked over to his desk. He gingerly picked up one of the cardboard boxes on his desk and stared intently at it. "yes, this is what I want. No more nonsense, minwoo. She is the one for you, not…" he turned his head away without finishing his sentence. He looked at the other box. A sad and nostalgic look came over his face. "what's in the past is in the past. I will keep it in a part of my heart and cherish it. That's all I can do now." He then sauntered out of his room and down the hall.

Minwoo walked down to soo yung's room and knocked on the door. No answer. minwoo knocked again. still no answer. minwoo put his ear to the door. There was no noise inside. "where did she go—"

Suddenly, a pair of small arms from behind wrapped around his waist and yanked him hard. Minwoo stumbled back a few steps and turned his head over his shoulder.

"hi sweetie!" soo yung cheerfully greeted him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Minwoo faintly smiled. "finally wake up, sleepyhead?"

"hey, how'd you know I just got up?"

"I smell toothpaste."

Soo yung giggled. Minwoo then felt a hard object rub against his back and he looked down. It was a light blue box.

"happy 4 month anniversary," soo yung whispered in minwoo's ear, smiling.

"happy 4 month anniversary," minwoo repeated back, softly.

Soo yung let go of minwoo and walked around in front of him. She held up the blue box. "here's your present."

Minwoo took the blue box in one hand and held up the cardboard box he had in his other hand. "here's your present."

Soo yung beamed. "thank you sweetie." She received the gift and gave minwoo a kiss on the cheek. She then started to open box.

Minwoo opened the blue box up and found a bottle of cologne inside. He smiled. "thanks dear. I needed another—"

"oh my gosh, this glass unicorn is so pretty!"

unicorn! minwoo's smile instantly disappeared and his head shot up. wide-eyed, he looked at the glass unicorn in soo yung's hands. Oh no…the glass unicorn…I mixed them up…

"thank you, this is soooo pretty!" soo yung exclaimed. She then placed a quick peck on minwoo's lips. She looked up at minwoo with bright eyes.

seeing that she was ecstatic, minwoo recovered and put on a smile on his face. "I'm, uh, I'm glad you like it…" he said, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"hey you two," a voice from the side said. Minwoo and soo yung turned to find hyesung coming up to them.

"hi hyesung. Hey look at what minwoo got me! it's soo pretty!" soo yung held up the glass unicorn to hyesung. Hyesung looked at the glass figurine.

"wow, it's nice," hyesung softly remarked. Hyesung then looked up at minwoo, who was looking away into space. "didn't know you had such exquisite taste."

Minwoo just shrugged. Hyesung eyed minwoo. He then turned back to soo yung. "you guys doing anything special today?"

Soo yung shrugged. "I dunno…just a movie and a dinner tonight, right minwoo?" she looked up at minwoo. Minwoo slowly and slightly nodded his head. Soo yung smiled. "so what are you up to today, hyesung?"

hyesung shrugged. "probably just homework."

"homework? Eww. On a Saturday? What's wrong with you, hyesung? You hardly do homework even when you're supposed to."

hyesung shrugged again. "bored. Actually, do you have your textbook? I lent mine's to a friend."

"um, hold on, it's in the room. lemme get my…" soo yung started reaching into her pockets, but her hands came out empty handed. "oh no…"

"what?" hyesung asked.

"uhhh…I kinda left my key in the room."

"what? Geez soo yung."

"ahh just chill. You don't need it right away, right? Kei said that she'll be back at 5. Can you wait til then? She can let you in the room and you can get the book then."

"kei? Where is she now?" hyesung asked.

"I dunno. She's out with eric, that's all I know."

"eric?" hyesung and minwoo simultaneously said with similar surprised expressions.

Soo yung looked at hyesung and minwoo. "both you guys know eric?"

Hyesung leaned back. "uh, no, not really…"

Minwoo returned to his expressionless face. "I do. It's a guy that me and kei knew from high school."

"oh yeah that's right. Kei mentioned that he was from high school."

A brief silence settled upon the three. "well anyway," hyesung said. "I'll just wait until, uh, kei comes back I guess. See ya two." With that, hyesung walked down the hall to his room.

Soo yung looked up to minwoo. "ready to go dear?" she said.

Minwoo looked at soo yung and nodded. They started walking towards the other end of hallway…minwoo's eyes glued to the glass unicorn soo yung held in her hand.

Kei sat in the passenger seat of eric's car as eric sped his car down the highway. Kei nervously tugged at the ends of her hair. The presence of a bouquet of flowers in the backseat made her curious and fearful at the same time. Kei glanced at eric in the corner of her eyes. his shades hid his eyes, making kei unable to see the emotion in his eyes. kei returned her gaze back to the road.

"come out with me tomorrow kei."

"uhhhh…"

"please. It's very important to me if you do, and it'd be very important to you too."

"to me too?"

"yes. Trust me. just come out with me tomorrow."

"but…I don't want to go out tomorrow…"

"why?"

"just cuz…"

"well, you're going to have to tomorrow, or you'll regret it."

"is it…that…important?"

"yes it is, and it will be for you…"

what is so important that would be important to me too? I don't have a good feeling about this, kei thought to herself as she looked back at the bouquet of flowers in the backseat.

"oh…uh…so is eric…you know…"

"is eric what?"

"…an interest?"

"an interest? Um, no, he's not an interest."

no…those flowers can't be for me…he's not going to ask me out or anything…we're just friends…I can tell by how he acts…but…what are all these clues? Why am I so afraid of him asking me out? It just wouldn't feel right…

"you oki?" eric asked.

Kei jumped in her seat. "what?" she asked back.

"you look a little nervous."

"um…"

"don't tell me you already know where I'm taking you…"

"…umm…no…"

"good…cuz it's supposed to be a surprise."

A surprise? Kei gulped.

"you're back dongwan?" andy asked.

Dongwan came into the room and tossed his backpack onto his desk chair. "yeah. Whatcha doin' now?"

"nah, just surfing the net now. Hey, I found this funny site. Come here."

Dongwan walked over to andy's desk and looked over andy's shoulder. "what is it?"

"it's a site called the love calculator where you enter two names and it'll calculate the compatibility of the two. Wanna try it?"

dongwan gave andy a weird look. "what kinda sites are you surfing?"

andy just rolled his eyes. "just try it. Gimme a girl's name."

Dongwan shook his head. He then thought and smiled. "theresa jo."

"theresa jo…33. Eek, another name."

"uhhh…mindy lee."

"mindy lee….20. another one."

"carissa yu."

"16! Where the heck are you getting these names?"

"my physics class."

"figures."

"fine. Uh…hehe, park jiyoon."

"puhahahaha! Alright, park jiyoon….65…hmmm…not bad, but not good. Another name."

"uhhh…sung yuri."

"whoo! 75! You're doing better with the celebrities."

"hmmm…in that case, lee hyori."

"haha, 25. Too bad for you. she's already mine. I scored 86 with her," andy said, grinning.

Dongwan shook his head.

"whoa, 90 with boa!"

"what!" dongwan stared back at the screen. "What are you, sick? She's 14 for crying out loud!" dongwan cried.

"hahahahhaha! Looks like you're stuck with a girl still going through puberty," andy laughed.

"no no! I don't think so!"

"fine, gimme another name then. One that's not a celebrity."

Dongwan hesitated a little bit. "…kei…"

"kei huh? What was her last name? Oh yeah, lim…" andy typed in 'kei lim' into the girl's slot.

…

…

…

dongwan and andy looked into the computer with shocked eyes.

"97!" andy exclaimed. "puhahahahaha!"

a smile spread across dongwan's face. "whoa…97, huh?"

andy spun around in his chair. "hey dongwan. Tell me…you like kei?"

dongwan looked at andy. "huh?"

"you like kei or not?"

dongwan, still smiling, gave andy a weird look. "what are you talking about?"

"exactly what I said. Geez, just answer the question. Is it that hard?"

"…"

"so you do?"

"no…I dunno…"

"you dunno?"

"ahh, leave me alone." Dongwan picked up a pillow and threw it at andy's head. "I'm going down to have lunch. I'm starved." Dongwan left the room.

Andy rubbed his head and straightened his hair out. "yup. He's got it bad."

"we're here."

Kei, who had fallen asleep during the long drive, woke up and looked at the surroundings outside the car. There was grass and trees everywhere, making it a very peaceful setting. A park?

Eric got out of the car, reaching behind the driver's seat to fetch the flowers from the backseat. Kei also got out of the car and closed the car door. Eric walked around the car.

"follow me."

kei followed behind eric. As they trudged through the grass, kei realized that they were not in a normal park. There were grey objects protruding out of the grass…headstones. Kei's eyes widened.

This is a cemetery?

"we're here."

Kei turned and gasped. Before her was a headstone.

KIM YOOJIN

MARCH 3, 1981-MAY 3, 1997

FOREVER BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER AND FRIEND

Kei's eyes instantly welled up with moisture. "oh yoojin…yoojin…" kei fell to her knees and lowered her head before the headstone, crying her eyes out. Memories of yoojin flooded back to her mind and kei was lost in another world.

"I'm so sorry…for everything…you shouldn't have died, I should have…I miss you so much yoojin, I miss you so much…" kei cried.

Eric knelt down and set the flowers before the headstone. He then turned and faced kei. "it's oki kei. It's oki."

Kei looked up at eric through her wet eyes. "eric…how…how…why did you take me here?"

Eric looked back at kei with sad eyes. "because today is may 3rd…it's been three years since she's been gone, and I know that you haven't ever visited her grave."

Kei began to cry even more. She faced the headstone. "I'm so sorry yoojin…I never was able to visit you…I didn't know that you were here…I didn't know…"

Eric took kei into his arms to comfort kei. "it's oki kei. It's oki. I know you miss her. we both do." A tear slid out of his eye.

Chapter 35

Hyesung looked up at the clock. 3:43. "another hour and 15 minutes." He then looked down at the little wire he held in his hand. "I can just pick the lock like before when I broke into their room to read kei's diary. Hmmit's been a while nowno, I'll just wait until kei comes back. What is she doing with that eric guy?"

"oh my gosh, I can't believe that guy."

Soo yung and minwoo came out of the movie theater hand-in-hand and walked into the theater lobby with the other people that watched the movie.

"he divorced his wife to go after her sister who didn't even love him. That is so messed up. the wife shouldn't have committed suicide because of that fool. It wasn't worth it. He didn't get with her sister anywayz. I'm glad he died in the end too. He deserved it"

Minwoo stayed silent as soo yung continued commenting about the movie. He was now holding both boxes of the cologne and the glass unicorn. He stared intently at the box with the unicorn.

"hey minwoo?"

minwoo looked up at soo yung.

"it's 4:15 now. Our dinner reservation's at 6:30. What do you want to do til then?"

minwoo just shrugged. "I dunno. What do you want to do?"

"ummm" soo yung placed her fingertip to her bottom lip. "I guess we can just go shopping until then. How about that?"

minwoo just casually nodded and followed soo yung out of the theaters and into the mall.

Kei pulled herself away from eric's grasp. "eric"

eric looked at kei, wiping away the tear.

"do youdo you visit here often?"

""

"eric?"

"I visit here every 3rd of the month."

Kei looked at eric with questioning eyes.

Eric turned his face and faced the headstone. "there was one girl in my life that I ever liked"

Kei's eyes widened. "you mean"

"that girl was yoojin"

More tears welled up in kei's eyes.

"I remember trying to get to know her back in high school. Whenever I was around her, I would get real shy. So I tried to get to know her as a friend first. It kinda got me closer. I was soon able to talk to her like friends. But I wanted to be more than just a friend to her. but I know that I couldn'tI wouldn't be able tobecause"

kei looked away from eric.

"because I knew she already liked someone elsea lotand that guy was lee minwoo someone who didn't like her back."

The tears spilled down kei's cheeks.

"I told her that minwoo didn't like her. I could tell, by how he acted towards her and by what she told me. heck, I thought that minwoo was going out with you at the time. He seemed to be with you all the time. Butyoojin wouldn't listen and insisted that minwoo liked her too."

Kei began to sob loudly.

Eric looked up towards the sky, fresh tears coming up in his eyes. "why? Why couldn't she see then that minwoo wasn't the one that liked her, it was me who did? why couldn't she see that? I tried so hard to make her see, but she didn't see. And look what happened!"

Kei brought her hands to her face and cried loudly.

Eric looked to kei. "I'm sorry kei. I don't mean anything mean towards you. I mean, when yoojin had first died, I was mad at both you and minwoo at first. I heard that you pushed her off the roof and I was furious. I mean, you were her best friend, how could you do that to her? Then I heard that you went to a rehab, and then I realized that you couldn't have pushed yoojin, it was a lie. You weren't that type of person, even if you had wanted to. Ever since her death, I've visited yoojin every 3rd of the month."

"and iher b-b-best friend" kei stuttered, "didn't"

eric took in a deep breath and wiped his tears away. "don't blame yourself for that. You couldn't have helped that."

Kei looked up at eric with her teary eyes. "I'm so sorry eric. I'm so sorry"

"shhhhhshhhhhdon't cry" eric reached up and wiped kei's tears away. "it's oki." He then took kei into his embrace again and gave her a warm hug. "everything's oki."

"oh, don't you think that looks cute?" soo yung said, pointing at some stuffed animals in the display window of a store. Minwoo glanced over to where soo yung was pointing to. He gave a lil nod and resumed to stare off into space. Soo yung just shrugged off his indifferent mood and continued to walk down the row of shops, leading minwoo with her by the arm.

Minwoo's eyes trailed back for the countless time to the cardboard box that he held. He felt his neck begin to tense and his heartrate begin to accelerate.

This doesn't feel rightI don't feel happy anymore, I don't feelrightI should not be here walking in the mall with soo yung thinking about keiwanting to be with her. Idon't thinkthis cangoon

"hey minwoo, let's go look at the—"

"soo yung, we have to talk."

Soo yung looked up at minwoo's serious eyes. "whawhat's wrong?"

Minwoo bore his eyes into soo yung's. he then led her to the food court nearby and they both sat down at an isolated corner of the food court.

"minwoowhat's wrong? Youdon't seem like yourself today" soo yung asked concerned.

Minwoo slowly lowered his head. "you're right," he said huskily. "I'm not myself. BecausebecauseI don't know how to say this to you"

"say what honey?"

""

"minwoo?"

""

Soo yung's eyes began to become fearful. "minwoowhat are you trying to say? You'reyou're scaring me"

"I'm scaring myself tooI don't know why, but

"

"

"I don't think we should be together anymore"

soo yung was speechless. She stared at minwoo with gradually widening eyes. "whawhawhat's wrong? What happened? Did I do something wrong?"

minwoo shook his head. "noyou did nothing wrongnothing"

"then what is it minwoo? There has to be something that I did wrongwhat is it? I can change. I can change, minwoo, please—"

"noI've already changed myself"

"youyou've changed?"

minwoo slowly lifted his eyes to soo yung. He took in a deep breath. "I'veI've changed my feelings towards you"

soo yung's eyes began to moisten. "your feeling towards me? how? You don't like me anymore?"

"that's not totally trueI still like you"

"then what's wrong minwoo? Why" soo yung paused. She gasped. "isis it another girl?"

minwoo slowly lowered his headafter a great hesitationhe nodded his head.

Tears threatened to come out of her eyes, but she held them back as much as she could. After a moment of silence, she spoke up softly, "who is it?"

Minwoo didn't answer.

"who is it, minwoo?"

no answer.

"is itkei?"

minwoo still gave no answer, and with that, she knew. At that instant, tears slid down soo yung's cheeks. She slowly brought her hand up to her mouth and covered it. She blinked a few times, pushing more tears out. She then slowly got up and and quietly walked out of the food court, leaving minwoo behind at the table. Minwoo leaned forward, set his elbows on the table, and put his face in his hands.

I'm so sorry, soo yung. I'm so sorry. I know it hurts, but it just wouldn't be fair to youI had to do itI'm sorry he looked back up and saw the two boxes resting on the table before himthe light blue box, and the cardboard box. A silent tear rolled down his cheek. He then grabbed both boxes and ran out of the food court.

After spending about half an hour at the cemetery, eric and kei finally got up and left the cemetery.

"it's 4:30 now. You wanna go back home yet?" eric asked. Kei nodded. They headed for the car.

"so eric?" kei asked when they were back in the car and on the road again.

"hmmm?"

"you really haven't liked another girl other than yoojin?"

eric lowerd his head and shook it. "nah. I dunnowhen you've liked someone for so long, it's kinda hard to picture yourself liking someone else, you know what I mean?"

kei didn't answer at first. She lowered her head and had a contemplative look on her face. she then looked up at the ceiling of the car. "wellat firstI didn't think it could happen either, to like someone else after liking a certain someone for a long timebutit's not impossible"

eric looked over at kei. "you really think so?"

kei looked at eric and nodded. "yeah, I think so."

"yah! It's quarter til 5 now. I'll go check my mail first. By then kei should be back." Hyesung got up out of his desk chair and left his room.

Soo yung trudged up the stairs of the dormitory loudly sobbing and crying.

"no, this can't be happening. Minwoo did not just break up with me. he did NOT! Why minwoo! Why!" she reached her floor and stood at the end of the hall. Suddenly, she fell to her knees, and she remained on the floor, crying.

"soo yung?" a distant voice said. Soo yung looked up and through her blurry eyes, she spotted a figure down the hall.

"hyesung?" she whispered to herself. she slowly got up to her feet and started down the hall towards hyesung. "hyesungHYESUNG!" soo yung broke into a sprint down the hallway and ran towards hyesung.

Hyesung looked at soo yung in surprise. "soo yung? What's wro—" he got cut off when soo yung ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him and cried her heart out. "soo yung, what's wrong! What happened!"

"hyesungmiminminwoodoes..n'tlili-like m-m-me anymore!" soo yung cried through all her sobbing.

"what? What are you talking about?" hyesung asked shocked.

"hehelilikessomesomeone else"

"he likes someone else! Who! who!" hyesung began to grow furious.

Soo yung just shook her head and cried.

"WHO. SOO YUNG, ANSWER ME!" hyesung demanded.

Soo yung shook her head even more vigorously.

"answer me soo—"

"soo yung!" a voice called.

Hyesung looked up with angry eyes. before him stood minwoo who was breathing heavily from running.

"soo yung" minwoo called again, this time more softly.

Soo yung began to cry harder against hyesung's chest. Hyesung grew more and more enraged. He broke away from soo yung, walked quickly up to minwoo and punched him in the face, sending minwoo falling to the ground.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU! WHY, MINWOO! HOW CAN YOU DUMP SOO YUNG FOR SOMEONE ELSE! WHAT DID YOU PROMISE ME LEE MINWOO! YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU WOULD NEVER HURT SOO YUNG! DO YOU REMEMBER THAT, MINWOO! DO YOU REMEMBER THAT! HUH! HUH!"

minwoo did not look at hyesung. He looked away, unable to look at hyesung.

Hyesung's breathed heavily, his shoulders heaving up and down from fury. Soo yung was still crying from behind him. How could he? Hyesung thought frantically. How could he like someone else? How could he hurt soo yung? Who does he like now? Don't tell me it's—

"what's going on here?" a soft voice said.

Suddenly, soo yung's cries ceased, and with that, hyesung knew the truth. He slowly raised his eyes and saw kei standing in the hallway with the guy he saw the other day behind kei.

"soo yung," hyesung said, his eyes still glued to kei. "is it kei?"

"what? What about me?" kei asked.

"soo yung, is it kei!"

soo yung began to cry again. she then ran past everyone in the hallway and ran down the stairs.

"soo yung?" kei called after soo yung. Kei then turned around and spotted minwoo on the ground, the side of his mouth puffy and bleeding. "minwoo? What happened?" she knelt down next to him. Minwoo looked away from her.

Kei then looked up at hyesung. "hyesung? What's going on? Did you hit minwoo? Why?"

"why? Why?" hyesung repeated in a tense voice. In brisk steps, he walked over to kei and pulled her up by the arm. "because of you, that's why!"

"ofof me?" kei stammered, becoming fearful.

"yes, because of you! How can you do this to soo yung!" hyesung began to shout.

"do what?" kei asked, frightened.

"make minwoo break up with soo yung you back-stabbing tramp!" hyesung screamed at the top of his lungs.

You back-stabbing tramp

You back-stabbing tramp

You back-stabbing tramp

the words repeated in kei's mind. kei's wide eyes became sad and teary as they stared at hyesung's angry eyes. her voice was caught in her throat and no words would come out. All the noise she could manage were whimpers from the pain of hyesung's grip on her arm.

Eric walked and pulled hyesung's arm away and threw it down. "hey, don't you hurt kei like that!"

Hyesung glared at eric. "stay out of this! This is none of your business!"

"it is if kei's getting hurt!"

"why, that tramp your girl now?"

"you take that back!" eric demanded.

"take what back?"

"kei is not a tramp!"

"then—" hyesung cut off his sentence at the sound of pounding steps running down the hall. When he looked behind eric, kei had already run down the stairs. Eric glared back at hyesung. He then turned around and ran after kei. Hyesung stood in his spot. He lowered his gaze to minwoo, who was still on the ground. Hyesung narrowed his eyes. without saying another word, hyesung turned on his heel, walked to his room and closed the door behind him, locking minwoo out of the room. Minwoo struck the floor with a fist.

What have I done?

Chapter 36

Dongwan set his pen down. "oki, that's enough homework for me today."

"duh. It's Saturday," andy said as he sat on his bed reading a magazine. "who in their right mind does homework on a Saturday?"

"hey, wanna go for a jog with me now andy?" dongwan asked.

"a jog? Uhhh…nah, not now. Too tired. You go."

"aite you lazy bum. I'll be back in half an hour."

"kei! Kei!"

kei continued to run, ignoring eric's calls from behind her. regardless, eric caught up to kei and grabbed her arm before she ran any more. "kei, stop!" they both stopped running, and eric saw that kei's eyes were full of tears.

"kei, don't cry. Forget what that fool back there said. It's not worth crying over."

Kei wiped her tears away with her free arm. "eric…let me go."

"no I won't."

"please eric. I need to be alone."

"no, you don't need to help me."

"yes I do. I'm your friend, I'm supposed to help you."

"no, please. Don't be my friend, don't try to help me."

"don't be your friend? Why?"

"because I always ruin the lives of the people that become my friends. It's like I'm a hoax or something. Please, I just want some time alone."

"no kei. I am not gonna just bail on you like that. That's not what I'm here for."

"please eric…"

"no kei I won't!"

"yes you will!" a voice called out.

Kei and eric turned around and found dongwan charging at them. He ran up to eric and shoved him away.

"what the—!" eric called.

"you stay away from kei. Leave her alone!" dongwan ordered. He then took kei by the arm and started to walking away, dragging kei along with him.

Eric's surprised eyes narrowed at the backs of their heads. "isn't that…andy's roomie dongwan? What is he doing with kei?" eric followed after them.

When they were crossing a street, dongwan turned to kei. "he didn't do anything to you again, did he? he didn't hurt you, right?" he asked, very concerned.

"dongwan, what—"

"if he did I'll go beat the pulp out of him," dongwan said, a hint of anger in his voice.

Kei shook her head. "no, eric wouldn't hurt me, he—"

"kei!" eric called out from a distance behind kei and dongwan. Kei and dongwan turned around and looked back to see eric hurrying up to them. Dongwan pulled kei behind him.

"you stay away from kei," dongwan demanded.

"no I won't. I don't see why I have to," eric called out.

"because kei doesn't want to associate with you anymore."

"what? Is that true kei?" eric asked, turning to kei.

"no, hold on, it's not like that dongwan," kei tried to say to dongwan.

"it's oki kei. You can do fine without a guy like him. I better tell andy to make new friends too."

"hey! You better watch what you say before you even know what the real deal is!" eric yelled.

"I know exactly what's going on here—" dongwan started to say.

"dongwan!" kei screamed loudly. Dongwan hushed right away at the unusual loudness of kei's voice. He looked at her questioningly.

"dongwan, I'm sorry, I kinda misled you," kei said more in her characteristic softness. "about what I've told you about my past, it's not eric that…that…you know…I kinda just said eric's name in place of someone else's. eric wouldn't hurt me…" kei turned to eric. "he's my friend."

"i…uh…i…" dongwan was surprised and speechless, not to mention embarassed at the same time. "uhh…I see…"

"I'm sorry dongwan. I didn't mean to mislead you like that," kei apologized.

"ummm…I'm, uh, sorry there, eric," dongwan said slowly and quietly to eric."

Eric shook his head and clapped his hand lightly on dongwan's shoulder. "it's oki. Not your fault."

"I, uh, I better get back now. I, uh, I told andy that I would be back in half an hour and it's been 40 minutes now. Bye," dongwan hurriedly said, and he started running away without waiting for eric or kei to respond.

Kei looked at dongwan's disappearing figure. Why did he react like that? The look in his eyes…it seemed like a hurt of pride, but…there seemed to be something else…what…what was it?

Eric looked up at kei's face. "umm…you oki now kei?"

Kei turned to eric. She reached up and wiped her face. she took in a deep breath. "eric, can I ask you a big favor? If it's not too much trouble, after finals next week, can I live with you for a little bit? I dunno if i…"

"sure you can. You're always welcome to my place. junjin definitely wouldn't mind."

Kei gave a faint smile. "thanks eric."

Eric placed his hand on kei's shoulder and squeezed it. "hey, you look like you can go for some ice cream. Want to go for some?"

kei looked up at eric. She then nodded, and they walked down the street.

Hyesung sat on his bed, raking his hands through his hair. A mixture of anger, frustration, and confusion swirled through his head.

"what just happened there? Minwoo just broke up with soo yung? Soo yung came running to me…she hugged me…she came to me…how could minwoo make her so sad like that? How could he? To make her run off like that…now we don't know where she is…"

an image of kei running off then popped up into his mind. He lifted his head up.

"kei…did I say those words to her? I was so angry…just knowing that soo yung's hurt because of her…but…I didn't think I would…" hyesung dropped his face into his hands.

Kei returned back to her room at 7pm. She cautiously opened the door and peeked inside. She opened the door wider when she saw that the room was empty. Fear overtook her. soo yung's not back yet? kei began to get very worried, at the same time relieved. "I don't know what's worse, her being missing or having to face her…"

Kei walked up to her desk and her eyes fell upon the picture of her and soo yung. She ran her hand through her hair. "I dunno how I'm gonna face her now…or hyesung…or minwoo…minwoo…is it true, that you broke up with soo yung? Why? I don't get it…hyesung said that you broke up with her because I made you…I don't get it…"

Kei sat down in her desk chair. She then opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a cardboard box.

"look. Don't the dragon and the unicorn look tight?"

"wow. The unicorn is pretty."

"I think the dragon looks better."

"nope, the unicorn."

"dragon."

"unicorn."

kei opened the box and pulled out the glass dragon. She traced its edges with her fingertips. She thought back to the many times she had wanted to give minwoo the dragon. She thought of how she failed many times because of yoojin's face appearing on her conscience. Now not only did kei see yoojin's face, but also soo yung's…

kei buried her face in her hands. "what am I supposed to do?"

hyesung came out of the room and closed the door behind him. He started his way down the hallway, only glancing to the door of the girls' room. He then made it to the stairs and climbed down. He sauntered out of the dorm and let the cool night breeze hit his face as he opened the front door of the dorms. He walked down the pathway leading from the front door to the street, his mind full of thoughts.

As he made his way down the pathway, he saw a figure walking towards him very unstably. "great, another drunk fool," hyesung muttered to himself. "he can't be as miserable as I am now."

As hyesung made his way closer to the stranger, hyesung realized that the stranger was a female, and as hyesung neared her even more, he realized that she was…

"soo yung?"

soo yung stumbled down the street.

"oooh the stars are soooo puuuuuurty tonight! I'm a bright star! I'm a purty bright star! Whee!"

hyesung walked up to soo yung. "soo yung?"

soo yung looked towards hyesung's direction. She gave off a goofy grin and walked up to hyesung.

"heeheehee…do I know you?" soo yung asked in a high-pitched voice.

"soo yung, it's me, hyesung," hyesung said.

"hyesung? Ohhh hyesung!" soo yung then broke into a silly giggle. She pointed up to the stars. "look, isn't the sky pretty tonight?"

hyesung didn't bother to look up at the sky. "yes, it's very pretty," he said.

Soo yung grinned and hiccuped. She then stared intently into hyesung, making hyesung take a step back.

"do you think I'm a pretty star?" she asked.

Hyesung looked back at her with surprised eyes. his eyes then softened. "I've always thought that you were a pretty star. For a very long time," he softly whispered.

Soo yung stared back into hyesung's eyes. "really?" hiccup.

"really…"

soo yung giggled. The grin on her face then disappeared and she lowered her face. "you lie. I'm not pretty. Minwoo doesn't think I'm pretty."

"no, I'm not lying. You're very pretty."

Soo yung began to shake her head. "I'm not pretty. I'm ugly. I'm ugly I'm ugly I'M UGLY!"

hyesung took soo yung by the shoulders. "no you're not! You're very pretty! You're a very pretty star!"

soo yung stood still. She then raised her face to hyesung, revealing the fallen tears on her wet cheeks. "y-you r-real-really th…think so?"

hyesung sighed. "yes, I really think so. That's…that's why I've liked you all this time."

Soo yung continued to stare into hyesung's eyes silently, and hyesung grew slightly frightened. It was not the first time that he had confessed his feelings to soo yung, and it had upset and scared soo yung.

"no hyesung. You did not just—"

"soo yung, I'm telling you the truth. I have liked you for as long as I can remember."

"no hyesung. I know that you don't like dongwan and everything, but that doesn't mean that you have to tell me lies like this."

"I'm not lying soo yung, I'm telling you the truth. I needed to tell you, because every day that passes by that I don't tell you and that I see you with dongwan, I feel like I would explode."

"yeah, but now I feel like exploding! hyesung, please, don't. and now that I know, what do you expect me to do? Dump dongwan and come to you? no, hyesung, I don't think so. Hyesung, we've been best buds for as long as I can remember, and…and that's all I can see you as, a good bud, and nothing more. Please…don't ruin our friendship. I don't want to lose you as a bud."

"but soo yung, I—"

hyesung got cut off when he saw soo yung start to cry. He then watched silently as soo yung ran off, leaving him standing alone.

it took a long time for hyesung to gain soo yung's trust and friendship back, and from then on, he was careful about what he said to soo yung regarding his feelings towards her. but now…

after a few moments of silence, hyesung began to speak. "soo yung, I'm sorry, forget what I—"

hyesung cut himself off when he felt soo yung envelope her arms around him and hug him tight. "soo yung?"

soo yung rested her head against hyesung's chest. "hyesung…you're the only person that I can trust now…"

hyesung involuntarily gasped as he heard soo yung. He then placed his arms around soo yung and returned her hug. "you can always trust me, soo yung. I will never hurt you. never."

They remained in each other's embrace until hyesung gradually felt soo yung become heavier. He then picked up the sleeping soo yung and carried her into the dorms. He reached up to their floor and approached room 1004. He stopped.

Soo yung doesn't have the key, hyesung realized. And…kei's…inside. He turned and looked towards the direction of his room. No…can't bring her to my room…minwoo's there…soo yung would freak… he knelt down and gingerly placed soo yung on the floor resting her back against the wall. Hyesung stood up, reached into his pocket and pulled out his lock-picking wire. He picked the lock to the room and opened the door. He bent over, picked soo yung up, and carried her into the room to her bed. He tucked her in and sat there gazing at her face for a moment. He brushed loose strands of her hair out of her face.

Soo yung…you can always trust me. always. Rest easy. Hopefully what you said tonight will not just be babbles in a drunken stupor. I don't want you to not remember the words that I said tonight, because I don't know if I can bring myself to say them again to you. moreover, I hope that you remember what you said to me tonight.

Hyesung then got up from her bed and looked over to kei's bed, where kei laid asleep with the covers over her head. Hyesung stared at her covered body, not with anger as he had expected, but with an unexplainable feeling. Hyesung sighed. "nothing matters now," hyesung whispered to himself. "I have to protect soo yung, to make her not cry anymore." He then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Under the covers, a tear slid out of kei's eye. She was by the window watching out for soo yung, waiting for her to come home. Kei had seen hyesung and soo yung hug downstairs and heard him coming down the hall, carrying soo yung. Kei laid down in her bed and covered herself, not wanting hyesung to know that she was still awake. Kei heard hyesung whispers in the dark, the whispers that subtly pierced her heart.

Soo yung woke up in her bed to the warm sun rays seeping through the window with pain throbbing in her head. She clutched her head and rubbed it. "ugh…"

Knock knock.

"soo yung, are you awake?" a voice asked from the other side of the door.

Soo yung eyes widened a little. After a slight hesitation, she then called out, "yeah. Hold on." She slowly got up out of her bed, walked over to the door, and opened the door.

"morning, soo yung."

"morning hyesung."

"how do you feel now?"

soo yung looked up at hyesung.

"uh…" hyesung started to become nervous. "you were, uh, drunk last night."

Soo yung then nodded. "I know. I remember."

"you do?" hyesung's eyes widened. "uhh…what else do you, uh, remember…?"

soo yung lowered her head. Hyesung began to get real jittery and he shuffled his feet.

"uh soo yung, I—"

soo yung then shook her head. "don't say anything, hyesung. I remember everything from last night. It's just that…minwoo and I just broke up yesterday and I don't think I'm ready to move on yet."

hyesung nodded. "I understand."

Soo yung faintly smiled. "thanks hyesung. Thanks for understanding."

"of course. Just remember, I will always be there. You can always trust me, soo yung."

Soo yung looked up at hyesung and smiled. "I know. I know."

Off to a distance, a pair of eyes was watching soo yung and hyesung. Kei then turned around and walked out of the dorm, her eyes burning to keep the building tears from falling.

Chapter 37

The days of the passing week flew by for soo yung and hyesung. Whereas their friendship before was strong, their friendship now was even stronger. Hyesung put forth all his efforts to cheer soo yung up, and he did it. Soo yung was much happier and soon did not mope much over her breakup with minwoo. Hyesung and soo yung spent their days with smiles on their faces.

Another person spent his days without a smile on his face. minwoo isolated himself from hyesung and soo yung and never conversed with them, afraid to face them. He longed to see kei, but could never find her. therefore, he spent most of his time in the dance room, intensely dancing and doing nothing else.

The week passed by very slowly for kei. She spent her days studying for her finals and avoiding hyesung, minwoo, and soo yung. In the mornings she would wake up early to leave the room early and at nights she would either go to sleep early or late so she could avoid having to face soo yung. Kei would spend her time studying at the library, at cafés, anywhere but the room.

"hi kei."

Kei looked up from where he sat on the grass and saw dongwan towering over her. kei jumped a little in surprise. She hadn't seen dongwan ever since the day of the incident with eric. After that, all the psychology classes were cancelled by the professor, so she never had a chance to see dongwan…nor did she think that she could face him anywayz.

"um, hi, dongwan…"

"mind if I sit down?"

"…sure," kei said after a slight hesitation.

Dongwan sat down on the grass next to kei. He looked around kei and saw the books lying around her. "um, doesn't seem like you're just studying for the psych final, huh?"

kei shook her head without looking up. "I have four finals to study for."

"uh huh…look kei…about that other day…" dongwan started to say.

Kei meekly looked over to dongwan.

"…I'm sorry that I misunderstood you and eric. I didn't mean to…well…it's just that…i…I'm sorry."

Kei gave dongwan a faint smile. "it's oki, really. It's partly my fault too."

Dongwan sighed. "I don't know what came over me that day. I just kinda…flipped, I guess."

Kei returned her gaze to her book. "I appreciate it, really."

Silence. Dongwan started to fiddle with his fingers.

"so…how long have you've been sitting here studying?"

"mmm…" kei looked at her watch. "about 3 hours now."

"3 hours? Geez! Aren't you hungry?"

kei looked at dongwan. "you know, now that you mention it, yeah, I do feel a bit hungry."

"I'll say. I mean, it's only been about a week since I last saw you, but you look like you lost 20 pounds or something."

"I do? Well, that should be good for a fat ugly dog like me."

"fat ugly dog? Why did you just call yourself that?"

"…someone called me that before…" kei lowered her head.

"well, whoever said that is a loser. Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm hungry myself." Dongwan got up and started gathering kei's books. By the time kei got up to her feet, dongwan was carrying all of her books.

"here, I can get some of my books," kei said, offering her hands.

"no, I got it. Let's go."

"to where?"

"mmm…let's have chinese today. You know where ling-ling's is?"

"yeah. Let's go."

After meeting up with kei again, dongwan began to hang out often with kei. They would go out to eat and engage in different recreational activities. They studied together, so by the time finals rolled around a few days later, kei and dongwan breezed through their finals. They decided to go out to celebrate…

Another pair of people also did well on their finals. Hyesung and soo yung had also studied adequately for their finals. Hyesung knew that normally soo yung needed to study with someone, like she did with minwoo. But now since minwoo was out of the picture, hyesung offered to study with her. as much as he hated studying himself, he studied with her and found the time spent with her precious time spent. Once soo yung finished all her finals, soo yung seemed to be 100 recovered. She was happy and laughing once again, making hyesung happy and confident himself.

"wow, dongwan, how in the world are we going to pay for this?" kei asked when she sat down in her chair. "this place is expensive."

"I know. That's why I asked you to dress up a little bit. You look nice," dongwan complimented as he sat down in his own seat.

Kei looked down at her light blue spring dress. "whatever. I feel so underdressed here. Usually if I needed to dress up, I would borrow clothes from—" kei cut herself off before mentioning soo yung's name. She cleared her throat. "But you look nice tonight." She looked up at dongwan's outfit, a two-toned blue dress shirt and black slacks.

Dongwan smiled. "thanks. At least I know how to take a compliment."

Kei lowered her head.

Dongwan laughed. "I'm kidding, sheesh. But you really do look nice."

"…thanks…"

"see, that's how you're supposed to accept a compliment."

"I'm glad to see that you're enjoying yourself tonight, making fun of me and everything," kei said.

"hey, might as well make the most of the night, right?" dongwan grinned, appearing confident and cool. But inside, he was shaking incredibly.

After dinner, they sat there and talked for a bit. Dongwan then took care of the bill and they both left the restaurant.

They walked down the street and soon they arrived in the park. They walked through the grass until they approached a park bench and they sat down. Dongwan bent over with his elbows on his knees while kei sat there looking up at the stars.

Yoojin, kei thought to herself.

"kei," dongwan said.

Kei turned and faced dongwan. "yes dongwan?"

"is everything oki?"

"what do you mean?"

"well…I don't know…I mean, I know the whole incident between you, soo yung, minwoo, and hyesung has gotten you down."

Kei's face fell. She looked away.

"I'm sorry to bring them up again. I know how hard it was for you to stop blaming yourself for everything."

"yes…it was very hard," kei whispered out.

"and truthfully, you've gotten so much better. You seem so much happier now. You've progessed quite a lot kei."

"…thanks…" kei sniffled, and it was then that dongwan realized that kei was crying.

"oh, don't cry kei."

Kei let out a bitter laugh. "yeah I shouldn't. you should be fed up with seeing me cry all the time by now, huh?"

"no no. don't say that, that's not true."

"you should be fed up with me now. all I've been is doing pouring my pathetic problems to you this past week. You should hate being with me now—"

All of the sudden, dongwan reached over and hugged kei tight.

"dongwan, wha—?" kei started to say confused.

"kei, please. Don't you ever say that I would hate you. that is impossible, because…I can't hate you. not when…not when I have feelings for you…"

kei's eyes widened. "what?"

"kei. On that day that I tried to get eric away from you, I don't know what triggered me to do it, to push eric away. I don't usually get violent, and I don't know why I did it. But…I realized later that it's cuz I have feelings for you, kei. I really do. I'm real happy whenever I'm with you, when you smile, when you laugh. This past week when you were down, my own heart was crushed. I couldn't bear the thought of you being sad. I just wanted to hear you laugh and see you smile again. and now that you are laughing and smiling, I want to ask you…will…will you go out with me?"

kei's heart skipped a beat. Thoughts buzzed through her mind. What, what's going on here? Dongwan just asked me out? But, why? How? How could he like me? that's impossible…no one's ever liked me before…is it true, or am I just dreaming? This can't be happening…but…do I like dongwan? I…i…I do, but…

images of hyesung popped up in her mind.

No, kei, that's in the past now. Besides, he's got soo yung now…he's liked her all this time, and i knew it. I could tell that he's liked her all this time…the way he looks at her, they way he always talks about her…but I only wanted to fool myself in thinking that there may have been a chance that he would move on, that he would like someone else…like me…who are you kidding, kei? I'm so stupid, how can I like someone that doesn't even care for you? dongwan…dongwan cares for me…when I was down, he was there to pick me up. yes, I do like him too. Don't be stupid kei. Given if I were any other girl, I would jump at a chance to go out with THE kim dongwan. he's the #1 wanted guy among the girls in psych class because of his buff body and good looks. But he's more than a sack of muscles…he's kind, sweet, caring, and he likes me…

dongwan sighed and let go of kei. "I knew that you wouldn't. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to try to take advantage of you when you were still feeling down. That's pretty low of me, huh…I'm so sorry…"

"…why…why did you let go?"

"I'm so……what did you say?"

"why did you let go?" kei repeated softly.

Dongwan looked at kei with confused eyes. his eyes then turned hopeful. "does…that mean what I think it means?"

Kei was still, but then she slowly raised her arms and wrapped them around dongwan's waist, taking dongwan totally by surprise. Kei rested her head on dongwan's shoulder.

"dongwan…when everyone turned away from me, you were the only one there when I was down. You were the one who was there to wipe my tears away when I cried, and you were the one who listened to my problems when I couldn't keep it in anymore. You were the one there for me. you are very important to me, kim dongwan. I'm shocked that you want to go out with me. are you sure you want to?"

dongwan smiled. "of course I do."

"no regrets?"

"absolutely no regrets."

Kei gave dongwan his answer by hugging him tighter. Dongwan gasped in happiness. He then wrapped his own arms around kei and hugged her. "kei, you've made me the most happiest person alive now."

One last tear slid out of kei's eye. She brought her lips up to dongwan's ear. "at least I've made one person happy tonight," she whispered softly in his ear. She then rested her face again on dongwan's shoulder and they remained in each other's embrace. For the first time in a long time, kei felt warmth within herself.

Chapter 38

He continued to furiously move his legs side to side. He moved his arms about in synchronization with his legs. He moved about in the empty dance room, dancing as hard as he could, until his whole body gave out and he fell sprawled on the floor. He laid there, looking up at the ceiling, trying desperately to catch his breath. As he laid there, random thoughts crept into his mind…thoughts of soo yung…of kei…of hyesung…he squeezed his eyes shut.

"NO!" he screamed in the room, the room echoing his screams. minwoo then quickly got back up onto his feet and continued dancing again.

soo yung and hyesung made their way up the stairs and walked towards their rooms, laughing and smiling. They stopped laughing when they saw that soo yung's room's door was open and big boxes were lying outside the door.

"what's going on?" soo yung asked herself as she approached the door with hyesung following behind her.

before they reached the door, they saw someone come out of the room with a big box. The person placed the box down on the floor and stood up.

soo yung's eyes widened. "dongwan?" she gasped softly to herself. hyesung looked at dongwan with similar wide eyes.

another voice was speaking from within the room. "oh no, the box is slipping…wahhh!" a medium-sized box came flying out of the room and it hit dongwan on the side.

"oooww!" he cried out.

Soo yung and hyesung then saw kei run out of the room. "I'm so sorry, dongwan! did the box hit you? I didn't mean to hurt you. are you hurt?"

Dongwan made a puppy face pout and nodded. "yes I'm hurting."

"where?" kei asked, looking on his arm.

"right here," dongwan said, pointing to his shoulder.

"really? Let me go get some ointment," kei said as she turned to go back into the room.

"no, I don't need ointment."

Kei turned back to dongwan. "you don't need ointment?

Dongwan smiled and shook his head. He pointed to a spot on his shoulder. "I just need someone to kiss and make it better."

Kei looked up at dongwan with wide eyes. "a kiss…?"

"yes a kiss. Come on now…or do you just want me to stand here hurting from that box that you threw at me?"

"I did not throw the box at you—"

"ow ow!" dongwan cried as he clutched his shoulder.

"dongwan!" kei looked a little worried. Reluctantly, she then leant over and kissed dongwan on the spot that he pointed to.

Soo yung and hyesung looked at this act with BIG eyes and open jaws.

"feel better yet?" kei asked dongwan.

dongwan shook his head. "not yet…" he then pointed to his neck.

Kei gave dongwan a look, but then she leant over and kissed his neck.

"ahh, much better. But I'm still hurting here," dongwan said, pointing to his cheek.

By now, kei knew that dongwan was playing around with her. she was very hesitant at kissing the spots that dongwan pointed to, but she smiled. This is kinda fun… she then leant over and kissed his cheek.

Dongwan then placed his hand on the small of kei's back and pulled her close. "now…right here," he said softly, placing his finger on his lips.

Kei literally felt her heart triple its rate. She felt dongwan lean over and inch closer to her face. kei fluttered her eyes as their lips got closer and closer…

"keikei!"

three pairs of eyes turned towards the direction of the sudden outburst. Kei's eyes opened in surprise.

"hyesung? Soo yung?" kei said surprised. She suddenly felt embarrassed and nervous.

"hyesung?" soo yung asked looking at hyesung with questioning eyes.

hyesung kept his gaze upon kei and dongwan. he then walked and approached the two.

"hyesung…" kei softly said.

"hi hyesung," dongwan said. Kei could sense that dongwan was trying to sound calm when he greeted hyesung.

Hyesung didn't answer dongwan's greeting. He kept staring at kei. Kei looked back at hyesung's eyes. looking into his eyes, kei couldn't tell the emotions behind his brown eyes…

Soo yung walked up behind hyesung. "kei, what's going on here? What's with all the boxes?" she interrupted.

Kei snapped out of her gaze and looked at soo yung. She then lowered her head. "i…i…I, um…" she stuttered.

"she's moving out," dongwan answered for kei.

"you're moving out?" soo yung asked surprised. "how come I never knew about this?"

"seems like you were busy…" dongwan said, looking at hyesung. Hyesung didn't look at dongwan and kept his stare at kei.

"you guys seem like you were busy too…" soo yung said softly, a slight sad tone in her voice. "…um…are…are…are you guys…go…"

kei felt dongwan tighten his grip around her waist. "yes," dongwan said. "yes, we're going out."

For a split second kei let her eyes wander up to hyesung's. she darted them away the instant she saw his eyes. she saw anger and contempt coming from the pair of brown eyes that were staring her down.

"so…" soo yung said, her voice even softer. "…kei's going to move in with you…"

"actually no, she's not," dongwan said.

Soo yung looked up at dongwan.

"kei's moving in with a friend named eric. I don't think I have to explain why, right? I think the two of you already know," dongwan said with aggression in his voice, staring at both soo yung and hyesung. Soo yung lowered her head.

Kei, who had stayed silent throughout the whole conversation/confrontation, finally spoke up. "I…think…I…just…heard…eric…honk…his…horn…outside. We…um…we… better…get going…" she slowly said. She was desperate to get away from the awkward situation she was in now. She picked up a box and carried it down the hall, not saying another word. Dongwan picked up a big box and followed kei down the hall, leaving soo yung and hyesung standing outside the room themselves.

"I can't believe it…kei's…moving…out…" she said in disbelief. Soo yung admitted that she wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with kei after the day of the breakup and she had also avoided kei as much as possible, not knowing how to face kei. But the thoughts of kei suddenly moving out…and kei going out with dongwan…both seemed to overwhelm soo yung…

a few moments later, kei, dongwan, and eric made their way up the stairs and walked back to the room where hyesung and soo yung remained standing. They all bent down to carry the last three boxes. Kei picked up her box and faced soo yung. "soo yung… I'm sorry for all the hurt I've caused you…I truly am…I'm now moving out so I won't cause you any more hurt or discomfort…it's, um, it's all for the best. But I want to let you know…that even though I'm moving out now…and that a lot of things have happened now…all the times that we've shared before…I will treasure…seriously, I will. I've learned a lot from you, and you may not miss me once I'm gone, but I will definitely miss you…I don't make a whole lot of friends…

but you're one of those rare ones…thank you…bye soo yung…" with that, kei started to leave. She looked over to hyesung and stared at his face, the pale face that had glowed in the moonlight…the pale face that she had admired and adored.

"bye…hyesung…" she said, lowering her eyes. she then turned and followed dongwan and eric down the hall and out of the dorms.

When the three had disappeared, hyesung and soo yung still remained standing in front of the room.

"kei…" soo yung softly said. A tear slid out of her eye. "I'll miss you…I will."

"yay, kei's here!" junjin clapped and rushed to the front door to greet kei.

Kei smiled as she came into the apartment with a big box in her hands. "hi junjin. I'm, home, I guess, huh?" she said smiling.

"yup yup, this is your home now," junjin said smiling.

Eric came up behind kei. "stop standing there smiling like an idiot you idiot. Come help us with the boxes."

"hmmm…oh, I think I hear the water kettle whistling!" junjin said and he ran into the kitchen.

"you lazy butt! We don't even have a water kettle! We have an electric water boiler! Yah!" eric said in a exasperated voice and he carried the box into the apartment and placed it on the floor.

Dongwan then came into the apartment with another box. He set it down next to the other boxes and stood up. "nice place you guys got here," he commented.

"huh? Oh, yeah. Junjin's aunt owns this place," eric said.

"oh. That's a good thing."

Kei then headed out the door, but then dongwan stopped her. "there are only two more small boxes. I can get them for you. you just rest in here, oki?" without waiting for an answer or a protest from kei, he ran out of the door.

Eric walked up to kei. "treats you well," he said to dongwan.

Kei nodded. "he does…"

Dongwan then came back into the apartment holding both boxes. He then set them on top of the boxes. "oki, you're all set."

"oh, you guys are done with bringing the stuff in? I was about to go out there to help you guys too," junjin said coming out of the kitchen.

"you idiot! You deliberately waited until we brought all the stuff in ourselves!" eric yelled at junjin.

Junjin gave an innocent look. "now why would I do that? I wanted to help, I really did."

Eric rolled his eyes.

"it's just that I thought that in the occasion of kei moving in, I would go bake cookies."

Eric and kei looked at junjin. "you baked cookies?" kei asked.

"since when in the world did you start baking cookies?" eric asked.

"are they good?" dongwan asked with shining eyes.

all four went into the kitchen and sure enough, there were picture perfect cookies on a plate on the dining room table. Kei, eric, and dongwan looked at each other. Dongwan took a cookie and took a bite. His eyes widened.

…

…

…

"wow, these are good!" he announced, eating the rest of the cookie.

"really?" junjin asked happily.

Eric took one cookie and ate it himself. He then smiled, swallowed, and started laughing loudly.

"what's so funny?" kei asked.

Eric started to cough. He rolled his eyes. "of course they're good. Junjin here went to mrs. Field's and bought these!"

Kei and dongwan looked at junjin. Junjin's cheeks were red.

"man…oh well…it was worth a try."

Soo yung sat down on her bed staring blankly at the other side of the room. The empty desk, chair, bed…the other side of the room looked totally bare now.

"she's gone…she's really gone…for these past couple of weeks, it seemed like she wasn't here…but at least she still was…now…she's really gone…kei…is it that hard for you to keep living here? I mean…everything wasn't your fault…really, it wasn't…

you didn't have to leave…I'm so sorry kei…"

chapter 39

his steps echoed through the dance hall. They became faster and faster and fasterhe didn't know how to stop

"she's goneshe's gone for good now."

Hyesung walked out of this classroom and through the school campus with no particular destination in mind. He looked up to his left and found the library.

Hyesung hurried to his feet. "whoops. Musta dozed off there."

Kei smiled at hyesung. "you were waiting for me?"

Hyesung reached up at scratched his head. "no not really. I just didn't want to go back yet so I just hung out here for a bit."

"oh I see," kei said, a little disappointment in her voice.

"besides, a girl shouldn't be wandering around the streets alone at night."

"why didn't you go into the library then? It's so cold out here."

hyesung went past the library and kept walking out of the campus. He walked down the streets until he reached the park.

They both walked until the they reached the park. They walked across the grass and sat themselves down next to the small pond in the park. Kei stared at the pond, moonlight reflecting off of it and glowing at kei's face. Hyesung looked over at kei. She had sad eyes, but the moonlight reflecting off of them seemed to make them sparkle and come to life. Those eyes

"ahhhhh! What is wrong with you!" hyesung screamed out loud.

"wrong with me? there's something wrong with you!" a girl said.

Hyesung glared at the girl. "I'm not talking to you!"

"crazy fool," the girl muttered and she walked away. hyesung raked his hand through his hair. After a great hesitation, he walked towards the park and in the direction to the pond.

He sat down next to the pond. He set his backpack aside, laid down on the grass and stared up at the skies. A cool breeze started to blow through while the warm sun rays shined upon hyesung's face.

"summer's here. two weeks before summer school starts. Life sucks," hyesung muttered to himself. His thoughts wandered off to soo yung

"what to do? I know I like herwe're both happy when we're togetherit seems like we're going out nowbut we're not. Do ido I ask? Should I?" instantly after he asked himself that, kei popped up in his mind. "ahh, I'm so confused!" he sat up on the grass. He looked over to his backpack and opened it. He pulled out a pen and a notebook. He opened the notebook and started writing in it.

Hyesung closed the notebook and put it back into his backpack. He laid back down and stared up at the night sky that was now taking over the skies. The first stars started to shine in the sky. He rested his arm behind his head.

Kei looked up at the night sky. It was a clear sky and stars were sparkling brightly in the skies. Kei laid down beside hyesung and looked up at the stars. She scanned the sky until she found ¡®it.' "yoojin" she whispered.

"hmmm?" hyesung questioned. Kei turned her face and saw hyesung open his eyes. "what did you say?"

"oh, nothing," kei said in a sad tone.

Hyesung eyes traveled up to the sky. "the sky is beautiful tonight."

Kei nodded in agreement. "yes, it is."

"ugheverything's blurry now. Headache."

Kei got up from her spot and scooted behind hyesung. "here," she said. She took hyesung's head into her hands and placed it on her lap. She then took her fingers, placed them on his temples, and started to rotate her fingers in circles. After a few seconds, kei asked, "feeling better?"

without realizing it, hyesung raised his hand up and felt his temples. He imagined feeling kei's soft fingers rotating on his temples again. he then closed his eyes and then shook his head. He looked up at the sky again. straight before him high up in the sky, he saw a bright star shining down on him.

"heeheeheedo I know you?" soo yung asked in a high-pitched voice.

"soo yung, it's me, hyesung," hyesung said.

"hyesung? Ohhh hyesung!" soo yung then broke into a silly giggle. She pointed up to the stars. "look, isn't the sky pretty tonight?"

hyesung didn't bother to look up at the sky. "yes, it's very pretty," he said.

Soo yung grinned and hiccuped. She then stared intently into hyesung, making hyesung take a step back.

"do you think I'm a pretty star?" she asked.

Hyesung looked back at her with surprised eyes. his eyes then softened. "I've always thought that you were a pretty star. For a very long time," he softly whispered.

Soo yung stared back into hyesung's eyes. "really?" hiccup.

"really"

soo yung giggled. The grin on her face then disappeared and she lowered her face. "you lie. I'm not pretty. Minwoo doesn't think I'm pretty."

"no, I'm not lying. You're very pretty."

Soo yung began to shake her head. "I'm not pretty. I'm ugly. I'm ugly I'm ugly I'M UGLY!"

hyesung took soo yung by the shoulders. "no you're not! You're very pretty! You're a very pretty star!"

soo yung stood still. She then raised her face to hyesung, revealing the fallen tears on her wet cheeks. "y-you r-real-really ththink so?"

hyesung sighed. "yes, I really think so. That'sthat's why I've liked you all this time."

hyesung then thought back to when he and soo yung discovered that kei was moving out of the room. He saw the expression on soo yung's face when she saw dongwan, how dongwan was affectionate towards kei. Soo yung had a hurtful and sad face. hyesung grimaced.

"she's still hurt over himafter all this timeafter minwooafter mefor the second timeI will justI will just have to make her forget himhe has keikei nowhas

keikeinow" he shook his head. He got up to his feet, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed back to the dorm

"hey, I'm here! The party can start now!"

"andy, you're kinda late aren't you," junjin called out from the dining room table.

"sorry. Had my last final just now," andy said.

"what final?"

"dance class."

"dance class?" junjin asked. "you have a final for dance class?"

andy nodded. "had to come up with my own choreographed dance. Took me two weeks to come up with it. But I finally got it over with." He walked over to the table and sat down at one of the chairs. "I think I did oki."

"that's good," eric said.

"hey kei, you know your friend minwoo?" andy asked. "he came up with an awesome routine. The steps were great and everythingbut you know, he looked all tired when he performed it. Looked like he didn't get enough sleep."

Kei stiffened when she heard andy mention minwoo's name. Dongwan felt kei get nervous and placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. Andy looked at dongwan and kei weirdly. "uh.what's going on here?"

"we're going out," dongwan softly announced. Andy's eyes widened. He then scratched his head. "man, where have I been? Is that why you came back to the dorms a few nights ago all happy and stuff? You were all depressed before and everything. AhhhI see now."

Kei just looked at her hands, unable to look up at the guys.

"aww look, you made kei blush now," junjin teased.

"aww, my bad, heehee," andy said.

"Anywayz, since we're all here, how about we all head out to the club tonight?" junjin suggested.

"good idea. Let's go," andy said.

"you gonna go, dongwan?" eric asked, looking at dongwan.

kei turned to dongwan. "you going to go, dongwan?"

dongwan looked at kei. "you go clubbing?"

"uhsort of. Butprobably kind of differently than what you think."

Dongwan looked at kei weirdly. Kei shook her head. "don't worry about it. You wanna go?"

"I'm not the club type of person" dongwan trailed off.

"aww come on dongwan. let's just go and have some fun. Don't tell me you're gonna let your girl go out and club herself. you gotta watch over her and everything you know," junjin said.

"yeah dongwan. just come out for a drink or something," andy said.

"umsure why not," dongwan said. He turned to kei. "just for you."

kei smiled. "I'll go get changed." She stood up.

"what are you gonna change into?" junjin asked.

Kei turned around. "what do you guys want me to change into?"

Junjin and andy looked at each other and smiled. "what eric picked out for you that one time," junjin answered with a smile on his face.

"uhoki," kei said and she disappeared from the dining table.

Dongwan turned to eric. "what did you pick out for her?"

Eric looked at dongwan but he didn't answer.

"don't worry dongwan. you'll like what she's going to wear," junjin said, and he slung his arm over eric's shoulder. "our eric here has good taste in feminine things."

Eric took junjin's arm off his shoulder. He threw a cookie at junjin's face. junjin instead caught the cookie in his mouth and ate it. "mmmmrs. Field's"

"so this is what you do when you're with those three," dongwan said as he and kei sat at a table in the club.

Kei nodded. "we all love to dance. The first time I got together with them, we came here to dance."

"I woulda never guessed that you liked to dance if you didn't tell me about your, uh, your past"

Kei lowered her head.

Dongwan pulled at his collar. "umI also woulda never guessed that you would dress like this"

kei looked down at her electric blue top and her black slacks. She had her hair tied up in a simple ponytail and no makeup on, except for a little lipgloss.

"I usually don't like to dress up, especially like the girls out on the dance floor now. Before, I wouldn't even wear these kinda clothes. Buteric picked these out for me, and they're nice"

"yes, very nice. I think you look great," dongwan said. "but how come eric had to pick out clothes for you?"

"ericI, umI have a favor to ask of you."

"what's that?"

"help me pick out some clothes."

"huh?"

"well, I don't usually shop. I usually wear t-shirts and jeans. ButI guess I should get something different. But I dunno what would look good on me."

"um, oki. I guess I'll see what I can do."

"ummlong story" kei said. "let's just leave it at that he helped me pick out a whole new wardrobe."

"well" dongwan started to say as he looked into kei's eyes. "whatever clothes you wear, you'll always be wonderful in my eyes."

kei looked away. she smiled, but there was something in her, something nagging within her.

I'mnot used to receiving compliments

I'm used to hearing

Fat ugly dog

They had dropped off dongwan and andy back at their dorms. Junjin, kei, and eric then headed back to the apartment.

junjin parked the car in his assigned parking spot. He and kei got out of the car and then they reached back into the car to pull eric out of the car. Eric was drunk out of his senses.

"weird. Eric's never usually the one to get drunk," junjin said as he slung eric's left arm over his shoulder.

Kei pulled eric's right arm over her shoulders. "I didn't think so either."

They walked up to the door of their apartment on the ground floor. Junjin opened the door and they dragged eric's body into the living room. They set him on the couch.

"I guess he's gonna sleep out here for tonight. There's no way I'm gonna drag him all the way to his room." Junjin turned to kei. "aren't you lucky. I guess you can sleep on his bed tonight. Tomorrow we'll start moving all his stuff into my room. Then you can have your own room."

"I'm sorry for all the trouble junjin. I didn't want to be such a burden on you too," kei apologized.

"don't say that. I'm totally cool with you living with us. Um" junjin leaned in close to kei. "you can cook, right?"

kei smiled. "I can sorta cooknothing real gourmet"

junjin smiled. "good. As long as you can do more than just boiling water, you're welcome here."

Kei smiled.

Eric started to moan.

"hey, why don't you go ahead and wash up and go to sleep. I'll take care of eric," kei said.

"you sure?" junjin said.

"yes I'm sure. I'm not the one that eric puked on."

Junjin looked down at his shirt which was now covered and stained with eric's ¡®gifts.' "um, I guess huh. You knowI don't think I'm ever gonna have mrs. Field's cookies againnot after seeing them in this form—"

"junjin" kei glared at junjin.

Junjin laughed. "oki oki, off to bed I go." He then disappeared into the hall.

Kei went to the room that all her boxes were transferred to, eric's room. She then grabbed the blanket and a pillow and took them out to the living room. Kei reached over and pulled off eric's shoes. She then went over and unbuttoned eric's first button to let him breathe better. She lifted eric's head and placed the pillow under the head. She then covered eric with the blanket. Kei rushed to the bathroom and hurried back with a wet washcloth. She started to wipe eric's face.

"mmmmph"

"eric, you feeling oki?" kei asked softly.

"heheadache" he mumbled.

Kei looked at eric with slightly wide eyes. she placed the washcloth down, walked over to the end of the couch, and then placed her fingers on his temples and started to rotate them in circles. She slowly massaged his head.

"feeling better?" she asked.

No response, except for some light snoring. She took her fingers off of eric's head. Kei sighed. Hyesung she shook her head. She then walked into the hallway and headed into eric's room

She opened one box, pulled out her sleepclothes, and changed into them. She then walked over to the bed. She stopped in her tracks. She slowly walked up closer to the wall. There was a picture taped up to the wall. Kei reached over and flipped on a lamp. The bright yellow light shone upon the picture, and kei gasped when she saw the picture. It was a picture of eric and yoojin, apparently years ago back in high school. Eric and yoojin were sitting in a classroom at some desks. Yoojin was smiling and eric had a pleasant look on his face too. Kei reached up and touched yoojin's face in the picture.

"I miss you so much yoojin" kei then shifted her eyes over to eric's face. "and I know eric does toogood night." Kei slipped into the bed and fell asleep.

The next morning

Eric slowly opened his eyes. he blinked a few times to clear his hazy vision. "huh? Where am I?" he lifted his head up and found that he was in his living room. He plopped his head back onto the pillow. "ugh"

"you up?" a voice from the side asked. Eric lifted his head and saw kei coming his direction.

"keiwhat are youoh, yeah"

"forgot that I moved in yesterday? Gee, I see how it is. You're the one who offered me to live here in the first place," kei playfully said as she walked towards the couch.

"yeah yeah, I know. It's just thatman, this headache"

"I figured that you would be like this this morning. You were really drunk last night. That's why" kei walked up to eric and held a cup to eric. "I made some hot tea for you. it should help the headache."

"tea? Where'd you get tea? We don't have tea in the house," eric asked.

"eric, it's almost 12 now. The stores have been open for hours now."

"oki then" eric took the cup from kei and sipped at the tea. He made a face. "geez this is bitter."

"good. It'll wake you up."

eric looked at kei. "you know, now that you're living here, are you going to be like a mother or something?"

kei smiled. "I guess so. Someone needs to clean up this place."

eric gave a small laugh. He took one more sip of the tea and then handed it to kei to place onto the table. "I guess I'll just go wash up now."

"need help?"

eric looked at kei and smiled. "noI think I can manage." He threw the covers off of himself and got up from the couch. He walked over to the bathroom and closed the door.

Kei heard whistling coming from the hallway. She turned around. She jumped in surprise.

"aaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

soo yung woke up. she sat up in her bed and looked over to kei's empty bed. She sighed and then climbed out of bed. She walked over to her desk and sat down. School was now over, and summer was here. She didn't apply for summer school, and she didn't want to go home for the summer. She needed something to take up he time that she would now have on her hands.

"I need to find a job."

"geez junjin, I thought that you would know better than that," eric said.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm so used to walking through the house without all my clothes on, especially before I take a shower, you know."

"well now kei lives here so just change that habit," eric ordered.

"yes father eric."

"well actually," kei started to say softly, "it's oki. It'll just, uh, take getting used to. It's not that big of a deal"

"no, it's time that junjin starts to learn a little consideration," eric said.

"yes father eric," junjin said.

"so don't scare kei like that ever again."

"yes father eric."

"and you scream like a girl junjin."

"yes father erichey wait a minute"

"did you apply for summer school?" dongwan asked.

Kei nodded.

"what classes are you taking?"

"just one. Uhmusic"

"oh really? That's cool."

"how about you dongwan? are you taking summer school?"

dongwan shook his head. "but you know what I'm doing? I landed an internship in a psychiatric clinic."

"oh really? That's great! That'll really help you become a psychiatrist like you wanted to be."

Dongwan nodded, smiling. "I guess we won't see a whole lot of each other, even during summer."

Kei smiled. "I'm pretty sure we can work something out, right?"

dongwan grinned. "of course." They continued to walk through the mall.

A week later

Kei nervously stepped into the classroom. Several students were already seated in some desks, chatting among themselves. Kei took a seat by herself near the back.

A few moments later, a young man with spectacles walked into the classroom.

"hello class, sorry for the tardiness, but get used to it, because if there's anything you'll learn in this class, it's that I'm not Mr. Punctual." The man turned around and faced the class. "and I'm sure many of you folks know that by now. I recognize a few familiar faces in here. I'm mr. Jo, for those of you who don't know me yet, or professor jo if you guys prefer to be politically correct in that sense. I personally don't care. I do care if YOU guys are not on time. I may not be on time all the time, but you guys have to be on time, early would be bet—"

the door abruptly opened and slammed shut.

"Mr. Shin, nice of you to finally join us," professor jo said.

"sorry prof. Jo. Overslept," a voice said. Kei froze when she heard the voice. All the faces of the students in the room turned toward the back of the room, all except kei's.

hyesung walked up to the front of the classroom and stood next to professor jo.

"class, this is shin hyesung, and he will be my TA. Yes, even though it's a summer course, I'm too lazy to grade papers and do everything myself, so I asked hyesung to help me out."

"hey everyone," hyesung waved to the class. He scanned the classroom and his eyes stopped on kei. Kei stared back into his eyes and they shared a brief connection before hyesung's eyes moved on throughout the rest of the classroom.

"alright, let's take roll now"

as professor jo called out the names, kei stared down at her desk. She didn't want to risk looking into hyesung's eyes again. she almost didn't hear her name being called.

"alright. Let's begin" professor jo said.

"hello, can I help you?"

"hello. I'm here for my interview."

"I see. You were the young lady that filled out an application a week ago."

"yes, and I received a call to see the photographer today."

"what was your name again?"

"yoo soo yung."

"mmmlet me see if mr. Ahn is here." The lady got up from the desk and walked into the back.

Soo yung took a seat in a chair. She let out a breath and crossed her fingers. "please let me get this job," she softly said to herself. looking for a job was hard and tiring. She was overjoyed that she finally got a call back for an interview.

The lady came back into the room and motioned to soo yung to follow her. soo yung got up from her seat and followed the lady into the back.

The lady led soo yung into a big studio room with many backdrops and large spotlights. Soo yung heard clicks and saw flashes coming from the other side of a backdrop.

"walk around so you don't disturb mr. Ahn. He's doing a photo shoot for someone now."

Soo yung nodded and followed the lady around. When they walked to the other side, soo yung saw a young girl about her age posing in an elegant lavendar dress. A man was hidden behind a camera and was flashing away at the girl while she posed.

"yes minkyung, that's it. All right, we're done for today."

The girl got up from the ground and walked off the set. The man from behind the camera finally lifted his face from behind the camera. Soo yung estimated the man to be in his mid-thirties, though his features were still young and fresh-looking.

The man stood in his spot and was fiddling around with his camera. The lady motioned for soo yung to follow and they both approached the man.

"mr. Ahn, this is yoo soo yung. She was interested in working for you as an assistant."

"ahhh." Mr. Ahn looked up from the camera. He stuck out his hand, and soo yung took it and shook it. "I'm raymond ahn, you can just call me raymond. Sorry, I just got done with a photo shoot here, so I kinda have my hands full. I usually conduct interviews in my office, but you don't mind just talking here do you?"

soo yung shook her head and smiled.

"sodo you have any experience in working with cameras and films and the sort?" he asked.

Soo yung asked. "the most I've done is use regular cameras and take pictures with it if that's what you're asking."

Mr. Ahn chuckled. "yes, of course. And how come you're interested in working here?"

To kill time and make money, soo yung thought to herself. "I like pictures, and photography interests me, really."

"I see. So, any skills you have that will be helpful to me? what are some characteristics of yourself that you think will be helpful to me?"

"ummwellI work hard at what I do. I'm respectful to people, and I can be very helpfuluhI'm sorry, I don't know what characteristics you really need me to have to help you"

mr. Ahn chuckled again. "it's oki. I can tell by just talking to you now that you'll be fine for the job. I'm really in need of another set of hands, especially since cynthia here," he said, nodding over to the lady, "will be on vacation for the summer. I believe we will be working together, soo yung."

Soo yung was dumbfounded. "areare you serious? You'reyou're hiring me?"

mr. Ahn smiled and nodded.

Soo yung smiled. "oh thank you thank you! I can't thank you enough."

"you will be starting off with $8 an hour. Later on, that $8 may go up. sound good?"

"sounds very good. Thank you mr. Ahn! When can I start?"

"how about tomorrow?"

soo yung smiled. "tomorrow it is."

"oki class. It's almost noon now. Yes, I know that normally class lets out at 1, but being that it's the first day today, and I have another appointment to tend to, class will be let out early today. Remember to go buy the book everyone. I expect everyone to go buy it by tomorrow. Class dismissed."

The students got up from their seats and left the room. Kei jotted down her last notes and then gathered her stuff up. as she stuffed her papers into her bag, she felt an innate chill within her. she looked to her side and saw hyesung walk by her. her eyes followed his figured as he walked past her and disappeared out of the classroom. Kei then strapped her bag up, got up, and left the room herself.

12 o'clock. What to do now? Dongwan doesn't get off work until 3. Eric and junjin aren't going to be home until 6. Andywhere's andy? Hmmmhis and dongwan's dorm isn't too far from here

"hyesung! I thought your class didn't let out until 1."

"prof. Jo let class out early. So I thought I'd stop by to pick you up, since I knew that you were coming here for your interview today. How'd it go?"

"hyesung I got the job!" soo yung exclaimed happily.

Hyesung grinned. "really? That's great!"

Soo yung jumped a few times in joy. "you have no idea how happy I feel now. I can feel that this job's gonna be real fun. Raymond's a cool guy."

"raymond?"

"oh, that's mr. Ahn."

"ohyou call him by the first name already?"

"he said so."

"oh whatever. Hey, how about celebrating? Lunch on me?"

soo yung looked at hyesung. "since when would you ever pay for a meal that wasn't just for yourself?"

"hey hey! I'm not that much of a cheapskate!"

soo yung looked at hyesung.

"don't gimme that look soo yung. Don't gimme that look."

Soo yung continued to stare at hyesung.

"geez soo yung. Just shoot me now."

"I'm kidding hyesung. Let's go. I feel like ice cream now."

Hyesung smiled. "let's go."

"I'm going to order the most expensive one there is."

Hyesung's smile instantly faded away. "you are evil."

"come on cheapie. Let's go. I want ice cream."

Hyesung pouted as he thought of his money flying away. "I'm in for it now."

chapter 40

weeks passed, and everything started to settle down. Kei was settling in eric and junjin's apartment, doing her part in picking up her weight around the place, along with eric's and junjin's, as she lived with them. She spent most of her time on work that she received from her summer course. She was absorbed into the material and work of the course. She fell in love with her class. The only thing that still spooked her was hyesung's presence in the class

"oki class," professor jo announced to the class. "since this is a music composition class, it is only obvious that we will be writing and creating our own music in this class. After a couple of weeks of listening to different types of music, I hope everyone has developed a sense of what kinda music each and every one of you guys can come up with. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all will compose. I'm going to give you guys 2 weeks to come up with a short composition. It doesn't have to be a long and fancy composition, just a short one's fine. It should be interesting. Class dismissed."

The students got up from their seats and left the classroom. Kei hurriedly packed up her stuff and got up out of her seat. As she got up, something from the side bumped her and she stumbled a little bit. She looked up and saw hyesung.

"I-I'm sorry," she automatically said, though it wasn't even her fault.

Hyesung looked at kei. Kei stood there looking at him, not knowing what to do. For some reason kei couldn't move from her spot. She was looking straight into hyesung's eyes and was unable to look away

Unable to look away

Hyesung didn't make a single move either. He stood as still as a statue staring back into kei's eyes

Those eyesI will never be able to forget those eyes

Those eyes

Those eyes

Those eyesthatdongwanlooks into

An unknown anger rose in hyesung. he then stepped to the side and walked out of the classroom. Kei closed her eyes and sighed. She then left the room.

I don't think I can go through this everydayI don't know whythere shouldn't be a problemI mean, he's just my TAandnothingcan happenbetween the two of usI have dongwan, and he has soo yungand that's that kei continued to walk. "hmmmI don't wanna go home yet"

"you just gonna come by everyday after class to bug me now are you?" andy asked.

"sure why not. You don't seem like you're very busy yourself," kei smiled.

"hey hey hey. What's that supposed to mean? I happen to have a lot of things going on for me"

kei gave him a look.

Andy sighed. "alright alright fine I have no life. Happy now?"

kei laughed. "I was just kidding. It's not that bad andy. Besides, don't you like my company?"

Andy smiled. "no. I don't like you invading my privacy, being all up in my business. Just cuz you're dongwan's girl now doesn't mean that you can just mosey on into our room and bug me."

Kei rolled her eyes and laughed. The tension she felt from before after class was now all gone. "what're you doing now?"

"mmm, nothing. Just surfing the net now."

"oh I see."

"mmmmoh hey! Hey, come here."

Kei walked over and sat down next to andy. "what?"

"look at this."

Kei looked into the computer screen and saw a bright pink background.

"kim dongwan, lim kei97? Wow" kei awed.

"yeah I know. Pretty cool huh? It's kinda accurate, isn't it?"

"I guess"

"so that means that I do have a chance with hyori huh?"

kei rolled her eyes. She walked over and plopped herself on dongwan's bed.

Andy shrugged. "worth a try." He then turned back to the computer.

Soo yung has worked under raymond ahn for a few weeks now and she loved her new job. She found the work to be fun and enjoyable, partly due to because raymond ahn was a nice and easygoing person. He was serious about his work, making soo yung serious about her job.

Ding ding.

"good afternoon, I'll be right with you!" soo yung called out from the back. She hurriedly pulled the prints out of the machine and powerwalked to the front. "sorry, I kinda have my hands full right now. are you here to pick up anything, or do you have an appointment with mr. Ahn?" soo yung quickly said without really looking at the person who came in.

"neither," the young man replied.

"would you like to make an appointment then?" soo yung said, plopping down into the chair and opening the appointment book.

"no," the stranger said smiling.

soo yung looked confused. She looked up and looked at the young man standing before her. "okiso what exactly are you—"

"chilhyun!" raymond, who had just entered the room, called out.

"hey uncle."

Soo yung looked up at raymond. "uncle?"

"soo yung, meet my nephew chilhyun. Chilhyun, this is my new worker yoo soo yung," raymond introduced.

Chilhyun reached out his hand. "nice to meet you. I was expecting to see cynthia here, not such a pretty girl."

Soo yung raised her eyebrow at Chilhyun as she gingerly shook his hand.

Raymond laughed. "I'll be out in a minute. I have to finish up with pamela, and then I'll be out, oki? I just came to get some more film." raymond grabbed a roll of film that was on the desk that soo yung was sitting and then he left the room.

Chilhyun turned back to soo yung. "well well, I guess it must be my lucky day. Soo yungpretty name for such a pretty face."

Soo yung looked away and started sorting through some papers on the desk. She knew exactly what was going to happen.

"so soo yungwhat brings such a pretty girl like you to work for my uncle here?"

"what, I can't work here or something, mr. chilhyun?"

"oh no no, of course not! My uncle would not like that now, would he? And" chilhyun leaned towards soo yung. "I wouldn't definitely like that. It must be fate that we meet here. Oh and by the way, everyone calls me kangta."

Soo yung held back the urge to roll her eyes at him. she gave him a forced smile. "look, kangta. I really can't talk now. I have a lot of work to do here."

Kangta smiled. "I understand. That's why I want to ask if you want to do something after work instead then."

Soo yung looked up at kangta. "actually, no. I have to go somewhere after work."

"oh? Somewhere important?"

That's none of your business, soo yung thought to herself, even though I'm just going home after work. "yes, somewhere important."

"oh I see. Well how about tomorrow then? Are you working tomorrow?"

"no. I'm outta town."

"oh really? Well, since fate brought us together, I'm pretty sure that fate will allow for us to be together later some time."

"soo yung, I—"

"oki chilhyun. I'm ready. Let's go out for lunch," raymond's said, coming back into the room.

Drat, kangta muttered under his breath. "coming."

"uh huh," soo yung carelessly said.

"soo yung, I'll be back in about an hour, alright? Can you take care of things here?" raymond asked.

Soo yung nodded to her boss. "I can handle it."

Raymond nodded. "I'll see you later soo yung." raymond walked out the door.

Kangta leaned over the desk. "I'll see you again, beautiful," kangta whisptered to soo yung.

"uh huh. Oki."

Kangta then followed his uncle out the door. When the door was closed, soo yung let out an exasperated sigh.

"finally, the fool's gone." She then returned to her paperwork.

"muahahahahaha!"

kei looked up from her work. She got up and walked outside her room and down the hall. "what's going on? what's with all the evil laughi—" she stopped in her tracks. "oh no," she muttered.

"look what we have kei," junjin said happily in a sing-song voice. Eric followed junjin in through the front door and closed the door behind him. he took one look at kei and shook his head as if he was sorry.

"you guys got it. You guys got"

soo yung looked up from her intensive game of solitaire on the computer. "good afterno—"

"hello beautiful lady."

"oh, it's you."

kangta walked up to the desk and sat on the desk. "so how's my lady doing today?"

soo yung looked up at kangta, giving him a weird look. "you know, don't you have places to go, things to do, people to meetanything else other than coming here to harass me?"

"whoa whoa whoa. Who said I was harassing you? I just want to get to know you better."

Soo yung looked away and back to her solitaire game, trying to ignore him.

"I see that you're not as busy today. Wanna go do something right now?" kangta said.

"no I'm working now. can't you see?" soo yung said without looking at kangta.

"yeah, busy working on your card skills. Come on, let's go do something. It'll be fun."

"sorry. I can't leave."

"I'm sure if I ask, my uncle would let you go."

"I don't want to go anywhere."

"come on soo yung"

"no."

"trying to play hard to get or something?"

"no. I'm not playing with you kangta."

"I'm not playing either."

Soo yung looked up at kangta. "look kangta. I'm really flattered by all this attention and everything, but I'm really not interested."

"soo yung, how can you say that you're not interested if you haven't even given me a chance first?"

"because I really am not interested in starting anything. I just broke up with my boyfriend not long ago and I'm not exactly in the mood to start another relationship already."

"aww. Whoever your boyfriend was before must have been a fool to break up with such a beautiful girl like you. why would he do that?"

soo yung became upset. "look, just drop it. I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

kangta got up, walked around the desk and put his arm around soo yung's shoulder. "aww it's oki soo yung," he said with fake concern in his voice.

Soo yung shook his arm off of her shoulder. "I'm oki." She abruptly got up from her chair. "I'm going to see if raymond needs me." And without waiting for kangta to say anymore, she briskly walked into the back towards the studio, brushing kangta aside. Once soo yung disappeared into the back, a slow smile spread across kangta's face.

"you will be mine, yoo soo yung. no one escapes kangta."

"oh no, you came over too andy?" kei asked.

"of course! There's no way you guys are going to count me out on this one!" andy said happily as he walked into the apartment. He hurried over to the TV where junjin was.

Kei slapped her hand on her forehead. "it's going to be a long day."

Eric came up to kei. "it'll be more than a day. Those two can go at it for days, weeks, months"

Kei shook her head. "I'm not gonna see the end of this."

"I'm sorry kei."

"It's oki. I'll just go back into my room."

"hey kei! Do you wanna play?" junjin called from the living room.

kei didn't answer. Instead, she disappeared into the hallway.

Junjin looked at andy. Andy shrugged. "guess she doesn't like DDR." They then looked at the screen.

"ooh, I love this song! Let's dance this one!" junjin cried happily.

"no! it's got 6 feet! WAAAHHH! Junjin! What are you doing? You selected this song! I'm gonna die!"

"aiya" eric sighed shaking his head. He then also disappeared into the hallway.

"6 o'clock. Time to go home," soo yung mumbled to herself. She tried to busy herself inside the studio so she wouldn't have to sit outside to face kangta. "mebbe he's gone now." she peeked into the front room. no one in the room. she smiled and walked up to the desk. She pulled out her purse from a desk drawer and slung it over her shoulder.

"raymond, I'm leaving now. I'll see you on friday!" soo yung called out to the back.

"oki! Bye soo yung!" raymond called out from the back.

Soo yung stepped out of the shop. She took a few steps and stepped out to the curb.

"soo yung!"

soo yung turned. "hyesung!" she called back happily.

Hyesung ran up to soo yung. "hey soo yung."

"hey hyesung. Came to pick me up today?"

"yup. Bored outta my mind."

"gee I feel so loved."

Hyesung laughed. "come on, let's go."

"soo yung!"

soo yung silently grumbled. "oh no" she turned around and saw kangta walking up to her. Hyesung turned and spotted kangta also.

"hey soo yung. just got off work?" kangta asked.

"uhh, yeah" soo yung said.

"hey, I figured that you would be hungry now. I thought that maybe we could go have dinner together somewhere."

"ummthat's oki kangta. I'm really not that hungry now," soo yung said.

Grumble!

Kangta gave soo yung a weird look. Soo yung sheepishly smiled and turned beet red.

"see? You're hungry. Let's go eat," kangta instructed, standing a little closer to soo yung.

soo yung took a step back. "no, it's oki really. I was just on my way home now. I was gonna eat at home."

"Well, promise me that you'll go somewhere with me tomorrow then."

Soo yung looked at kangta, and she shook her head. "sorry. I won't even be working tomorrow."

"sigh. Well, how about—"

"look, she doesn't want to go anywhere with you, oki?" hyesung cut in. kangta then looked up at hyesung for the first time. He looked at hyesung for a few seconds and then smiled. He returned his gaze to soo yung. "I see. Well, I guess I'll just see you next time, oki?"

soo yung gave a small nod. "next timewell, bye."

"bye soo yung."

hyesung turned and started walking away without saying goodbye to kangta. soo yung then turned and started to follow hyesung home.

Kangta looked at the backs of the their heads. He smirked. "you'll be mine, yoo soo yung. you just watch."

Kei glanced at her watch. "it's 11pm and they're still going at it? Aren't they tired?" kei then returned her gaze to the papers on her desk. "how am I going to do my homework now? heck, how am I going to sleep from now on? the house sounds like it's in the middle of an earthquake!" she threw down her pen frustrated and let out a sigh. "I guess I shouldn't complain. Junjin and eric let me live with them. They can do whatever they want." She stared at the blank papers before her. "what am I going to write? I thought that writing music would be fun, butthis is hard. I don't have any inspiration or anything"

"BOOM BOOM BOOM!"

"ahhh!" kei popped in her new J CD into her stereo, set the stereo into shuffle, and turned up the volume. ¡®jeemchak' came on, and the smooth music and j's soothing voice filled the room. kei closed her eyes. "now if I could just write a song like that, I would get this composition donebutwhy is nothing coming to me?" kei sighed. She then plopped herself down on the bed and sang along to j's song. As she sang, she thought back the time when she went to the karaoke bar with minwoo, soo yung, and hyesung. Despite her little teary incident when she sang herself, she found herself missing her three friends

former friends

a silent tear slipped out of kei's eyes. "I miss you guys so mucheven after all that's happened, I still miss you guys" ¡®kajang seulpeun mal' then came on. with that, kei started to sing even louder to the music.

Knock knock.

Kei abruptly stopped her singing.

"kei, can I come in?" eric's voice asked. Eric pushed the door open a little and peeked inside. Kei saw that the door was already partly open. Kei's eyes opened in surprise. Oh nodid he hear me? She quickly wiped her face.

"I'm sorry," kei hurried and turned her stereo off. "is the music too loud?"

eric laughed and shook his head. "the music in here's nothing compared to racquet outside now, as well as all the jumping and stomping those two monkeys are doing." Eric walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, next to kei.

Kei smiled. "gosh, I'm never gonna see the end of them playing it."

Eric scratched his head. "hehehe, I knowI feel kinda bad for buying it for junjin in the first place."

"oh, so you bought it."

"don't get me wrong, I love the game and everything myself. But I guess I'm not as crazy as junjin is about it. Anywayz, now I realize my mistake." Eric looked over to kei's desk. "I see that you're having problems doing your homework."

Kei smiled. "it's oki. It's not like I own this place. This was junjin's and your place at first."

"but you live here now too. I should tell junjin to limit the playing."

Kei shook her head. "it's oki. My homework's not due for another 2 weeks."

"oh yeah? You got time then. What is it?"

"oh it's nothing. I have to compose my own piece."

"oh really? That sounds really cool. You are really musically talented, kei. You dance, you sing, and now you're trying to write your own music."

¡®You sing'? "uhhhyouuhheardme?"

"yeah! And you sound good! Really nice! I thought it was just the CD at first, but then I listened more closely and heard you singing too. Hehehehave you ever considered becoming a singer?"

"ummactually, no."

eric looked at kei. "then what do you plan to be?"

kei looked away. "I don't know anymore. I mean, I used to want to be a psychologist. ButI don't know now"

"how about something in music? You seem to be good in that field."

"I don't know"

"no, you're really good in it."

"you should really consider majoring in music, kei."

""

"why are you so hesitant?"

"bebecausebecause it's too much trouble to change majors."

Eric laughed. "it's not that hard. I mean, at the city college it's not that bad. I can't imagine it being that much harder in the university."

"I don't know."

"how did you like your psych class?"

""

"do you like your music class?"

"yes"

"there you go. Music is for you, kei. Anyone can see it, kei."

"I'll think about it"

"see, if you major in music, then you, me, and junjin would major in music. Mebbe we can start up our own group or something."

Kei smiled. "hehehe."

"anywayz, I'll leave you alone now. you going to sleep yet?"

"soon."

"oki. Nite kei. Sleep tight, aite?"

kei nodded. "nite eric."

Eric got up from the bed. "I'll turn off the lights for ya." He walked towards the door and flipped the light switch next to it. He stepped out into the lighted hallway.

"nite kei," he said in a smooth voice.

"nite eric."

Kei watched as eric turned.

"JUNJIN, YOU AND ANDY TURN THAT BLASTED THING OFF NOW! YOU TWO ARE LIKE TWO JUMPING ELEPHANTS!" eric then disappeared out of kei's sight. Kei shook her head. She then laid down on her bed and stared into the darkness. Slowly in the midst of the darkness, she fell asleep.

Chapter 41

Hyesung sat in his seat twirling the pen in his hand, oblivious to prof. Jo's droning in the background. Hyesung smiled at the beautiful ditto that he drew on his paper. Beautiful, he thought to himself.

"so how's everyone doing on their compositions? Coming along? They're due in another week," prof. Jo said.

Their was a mild mumble among the students, some with calm faces and others with panicked faces. Prof. Jo smiled. "I'm hoping they're coming along oki…"

Hyesung looked up. He remembered being in the same position as the students that sat in the classroom. My first piece…it was bad…until…

Hyesung looked over to kei. She was carefully taking notes and paying attention to prof. Jo's lecture. He stared at kei. I wonder…how her piece will be…will I hear it? But…why is she in music composition class in the first place? I thought that she wanted to be a psychologist…

Hyesung shook his head. Who cares…she can do whatever she wants…but…it's stil…weird…

"…I'm hoping that everyone will be able compose something like our TA shin hyesung can here."

Hyesung looked up when he heard the professor mention his name. The whole class then turned their faces to hyesung. Hyesung looked at the professor who had an evil grin on his face.

"look what I have here…" prof. Jo held up a tape. Hyesung's eyes shot wide open. Oh no…

"this is hyesung's first composition that he wrote for professor lee from last fall semester." Prof. Jo turned to hyesung. "mind if I share with the class to give them an idea?"

"yes, actually I do," hyesung bluntly stated.

"aww come on," the students started to say among themselves to hyesung. Hyesung looked at the class. His eyes stopped on kei who was also looking at him. for some reason, he couldn't pull his eyes away, and kei didn't pull hers away either…

without waiting for an answer, prof. Jo popped the tape into a stereo, pressed the play button, and turned the volume up.

As the music played into the room, the class sat and listened quietly with attentive eyes. Kei sat in her seat listening to the song. It was the song that she had suggested to make into g minor. She slowly lifted her eyes up to hyesung.

Hyesung scrunched his face when he heard the unedited version of his song. It sounds so weird now…it's a lot better now, cuz… hyesung slowly looked towards kei, finding kei looking back at him. they continued to stare at each other as the song played.

The song finally ended, and prof. Jo hit the stop button. "well what do you think class? Think you can make your pieces up to that level?"

There was a lively murmur among the class. Prof. Jo smiled to himself. "all right, enough of the fun stuff. Time to hit the nitty gritty. Turn your books to…"

Kei stepped out of her classroom and started walking out of the hall. She thought back to hyesung's piece that was played in class. She reminisced back to the time that she was in his room, watching him from behind as he typed at his computer…his skinny back…the blond hair that shined under the fluorescent light…his pale face…

Kei shook her head. "what are you thinking, kei? You'll never be able to talk to hyesung ever again. Or soo yung. or minwoo. So stop thinking about the past." But kei couldn't help but still envision the pair of brown eyes that were staring back at her in class today. Instead of seeing hate and anger like she usually saw in hyesung's eyes, kei saw something in his eyes that she couldn't decipher… kei closed her eyes and sighed. She opened her eyes and started walking home. Soon enough, she found herself humming to as one's 'day by day.'

'Day by day' then got interrupted by a loud 'kwaejina ching ching.' Kei turned her head and found a car on the street pulling up next to her. it stopped, and a window rolled down. Kei looked in surprise.

"dongwan?"

"hey kei, hop in!" dongwan called out from within the car.

Kei walked over to the car and let herself into the car. "dongwan, when did you get a car?"

dongwan grinned at kei. He leaned over and gave kei a quick kiss on the cheek. "I work hard. come on, you wanna go somewhere?"

"mmm…I dunno. I guess we can go for lunch."

"your wish is my command." Dongwan then stepped on the gas and the car took off.

Hyesung stood at the doors of the hall as he watched the car take off. His brown eyes narrowed as the car grew smaller and smaller in size.

"I can't believe you have a car now."

kei stirred her drink with her straw as she sat across from dongwan in a local café.

"yeah, it's great isn't it? Now it's more convenient for me to go to work. And I can pick you up during my lunch time now and take you home from class."

"oh no you don't have to do that. I can just walk home. I like walking actually."

"aww. You're taking away my only excuse to get out of the clinic for an hour."

Kei laughed. "sure, use me as an excuse to get out of work now."

Dongwan smiled. "what, you don't want to see me or something? Aww, I'm hurt."

Kei laughed again. She then made a face at dongwan. "of course not. I love being around you."

Dongwan scooted over and put his arm around her shoulders. "well of course. I'm your boyfriend. Your whole world should revolve around me."

Kei raised one eyebrow at dongwan. "say that again?"

"I mean, you love having me around because my world revolves around you."

kei smiled. "that sounds more like it."

Dongwan rolled his eyes. "I feel like I'm being whipped by my own girlfriend."

Kei laughed and then stared at dongwan with evil eyes. "that's what you get."

"hey hey hey. Since when did you ever get so feisty and tyrannical?"

"I'm not feisty and tyrannical."

"really? When I first knew you, you were afraid to even speak to me. seems like all that shyness is gone now or something."

Is that true? Kei thought to herself. She admitted that she felt that she had changed a little. Appearance wise, kei started dressing more feminine than before. Whereas her wardrboe before consisted of only t-shirts and jeans, she was now wearing different types of shirts and pants and even skirts. Kei now also found herself talking a lot more, unlike before when she rarely voiced her thoughts. Mebbe it was because of her company…because of …

"…I guess you, kim dongwan, changed that all in me…" kei softly said.

"really? Me?"

kei nodded a slight nod. "I don't know. I know that I'm normally quiet and reserved. I felt as if I was just a blank face among a crowd, you know? Even with my, um, friends, I would be the odd one out. I don't know…I felt like I was on guard all the time…"

"on guard?"

"I was afraid…that if I told someone too much…that I would end up getting hurt instead…"

"you really feel that?"

kei nodded. She then looked up at dongwan. "…but…for some reason…since I moved out to eric and junjin's place…I never really felt that way…I felt…different…

like…more relaxed…and you…it is easier to talk to you than anyone else I know…"

"really? Is that really true?"

kei nodded.

Dongwan smiled. "I'm glad to hear that…cuz…I feel the same thing about you. I feel at ease when I'm with you. I feel that I can tell you everything too, that I can't hide anything from you. I guess that's what attracted me to you in the first place."

Kei smiled. "really? I'm about as unattractive as they come."

"that's not true. You're very attractive. You are the most wonderful person that I've ever met."

"puh leeze. You've probably said that to all your other girlfriends too."

"actually, no. in fact, I only had one before you."

"soo yung?"

dongwan nodded. "I mean, yeah, there were many girls that have asked me out before, but no, I never hooked up with any of them. Soo yung's the only one that I ever went out with, besides you."

kei was silent at the mentioning of soo yung. "dongwan? can I ask you something?"

"what?"

"what…happened…between you and soo yung?"

dongwan fell silent. Kei grew nervous.

"do…dongwan?"

"kei…um…"

"look, I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me…"

"no, it's oki. I'll tell you. but…can I tell you some other time? Right now…I mean…

I was feeling great just now and…I'll just tell you later."

"oki. That's fine."

Kei stared at dongwan's sad expression. Something happened…something that would make dongwan this sad and uncomfortable…

Dongwan looked up and put a smile on his face. "don't worry about me. nothing happened. Hey, let's go now. I want to cruise in my new car with my girl, oki?"

kei smiled and nodded. "let's go."

They both got up from the table and left the café. Kei had a smile plastered to her face.

I think I'm really truly happy now, with dongwan.

Few days later…

Soo yung hurried out of the photography shop as fast as she could, steaming mad and frustrated. Hyesung walked up to her as she neared him. he noted the mad look on her face.

"what's wrong soo yung?" he asked. Just as he asked, another person stepped out from the shop and headed towards soo yung. kangta.

Hyesung frowned. "is he still bothering you?"

"hyesung, let's go. I can't wait til I get home," soo yung said, walking off. Hyesung turned around and followed.

"soo yung, wait!" kangta called out as he caught up to soo yung and hyesung.

Soo yung stopped walking and turned around. "kangta, for the last time, I don't want to go out with you, so please, stop bothering me."

"but I really like you soo yung. please, if you give me a chance—"

"look, she said no," hyesung interrupted.

"I didn't ask you," kangta snapped at hyesung.

"look, kangta, you're a nice guy, and there are probably many girls that are throwing themselves at your feet," soo yung said, "and under other circumstances, I may have been one of them. But I've already told you, I just broke up with my boyfriend not long ago, and I don't think I want to go out with you now."

"why not? I can show you stuff that your ex can't."

soo yung narrowed her eyes and then closed them shut. She then opened them and looked at hyesung. She looked back at kangta and at the same time slipped her hand through the crook of hyesung's arm.

"well what if I told you that I already have another boyfriend?" soo yung said.

"what? You talking about him?" kangta said.

"yes. Hyesung's my boyfriend."

"whatever. You're just doing that to blow me off."

"suit yourself. Whatever you believe, the point is, I don't want to go out with you. so please, leave me alone." Soo yung then began to walk away, taking hyesung along with her. hyesung looked over his shoulder at kangta, who had a very furious expression on his face.

You're going to get it, shin hyesung.

Kei was walking down an aisle in the library browsing through books.

"…music composition, here we go," she muttered to herself as she scanned through the books.

"…man, do you know what I would do to get a guy like dongwan?" a girl's voice from the other side of the bookshelf said. Kei stopped in her tracks.

Dongwan? is she talking about kim dongwan, MY dongwan?

"oh dongwan! I know!" another girl's voice said. "I had him in my psychology class. He's sooo foine! Not to mention buff and everything. He's like absolutely peeerfect! He was the only reason that I went to all my psychology classes."

"sigh. I used to daydream all the time of me being with him…actually, I still do that, haha," the first girl said.

"sigh. Amen to that."

Kei smiled to herself. It felt good to know that her own boyfriend was sought after by other girls. I've definitely become a happier person ever since I've been with dongwan. he treats me so well.

"I heard that he's going out with some girl."

"who?"

"I don't know who she is. Some chinese chick. I have her in my music class now. I dunno her name cuz I don't pay attention in that class, and prof. Jo dun take roll."

"ohhh! I think I know who you're talking about. There was a chinese girl that was in the same psych class with me and dongwan…lam kai? No, lim kei, that's her name. Hmm…really? I woulda never imagined. She and dongwan don't seem to match each other."

"tell me about it. She's so quiet and plain. She hardly ever talks in class. I mean, how in the world did they get together? here's dongwan, GODLY dongwan, and then here's lim kei, uh…never mind. Makes it seem like a hercules going out with a piece of soggy driftwood, you know?"

"ouch, that's mean. But yeah, I guess I get what you're saying. She doesn't seem like his type…"

"yes! Because I'm his type!"

"whatever gurl! But then, yeah, at least more than lim kei, huh?" the two girls giggled and they started to walk away.

Kei stood silently on the other side of the bookshelf, thoughts racing through her mind. A sad frown fell upon her face.

It's true…I am like a piece of soggy driftwood compared to dongwan. what am I, kidding myself. I don't deserve to be with a guy like dongwan. I don't compare to dongwan, not by a long shot. I… a sad tear slid down kei's cheek. Kei quickly wiped it away and walked down the aisle with her head hung low. Don't you cry now. stay strong, kei. No more crying…no more cryi… but no matter how hard she tried, the tears just came out. dongwan…you…you've made me…a happy person…whenever I'm with you, I'm relaxed…and happy…but…I don't deserve you…I can't…I'm so confused…but I like dongwan…I do…right? Almost totally against her will, an image of hyesung's face popped up in her mind.

"no…no…no…" kei slumped to the floor, leaned against the bookshelf and cried her heart out.

Chapter 42

"ugh! I can't stand him anymore!" soo yung cried.

"tell me about it. He's like a freakin' mosquito that won't leave you alone," hyesung agreed.

"I mean, what part of no does he not understand? I don't want to go out with that fool."

"it's cuz tons of girls jock him, and he thinks that he can get anyone, including you."

"He thinks he's all that or something, that I'm one of the millions of faceless girls that throw themselves at his feet or something."

Hyesung just continued to walk towards their dorm, conscious that soo yung's hand was still hooked around his. "too bad for him huh?"

"sigh. I'm kinda afraid to go to work tomorrow. I know that he'll be staking out there. I…I think I'm going to call in sick tomorrow. I'm fed up with it."

"how come you don't tell raymond about it?"

"because kangta's his fav nephew, and whatever I say won't mean a thing. Besides, what's it going to do? Kangta's not going to stop coming."

"there's gotta be something we can do…" hyesung said.

"I don't care. I'm too tired to think about it now."

they reached the dorms and walked up to their rooms. They reached soo yung's room.

soo yung turned to hyesung. She withdrew her hand from hyesung's arm. "thanks hyesung. I'm sorry that I used you to get away from kangta. But it was the only way."

"all good. I, uh…"

soo yung looked at hyesung. "what?"

"i…never mind." Hyesung shook his head. "you go get some rest, oki?"

soo yung nodded. "I'll talk to you later, oki hyesung?"

hyesung nodded. "want to go to dinner together tonite?"

soo yung nodded. "I need to do a few things first."

"sure. I'm gonna go shower first."

"oki. I'll see you in another 20 minutes I guess."

"aite." Soo yung then let herself into her room and hyesung went to his room.

20 minutes later…

hyesung walked back to soo yung's room, his hair still dripping wet from his shower. He knocked on the door.

Soo yung opened the door.

"ready to go?" hyesung asked.

Soo yung nodded. "let's go." She stepped out of the room and closed the door. They both started to head to the dorm commons.

"hey, I love that smell. It's your shampoo, right?" soo yung asked.

Hyesung turned to soo yung. he smiled at soo yung nodded. "yeah. I love the smell too."

Eric let himself into the apartment. He spotted junjin and andy laying on the living room floor.

"what? No DDR today?" eric asked.

"uh uh," junjin groaned.

Eric looked at the two confused. "what? What's wrong with you two?"

"ugghh…our legs hurt too much…" andy explained painfully.

Eric rolled his eyes. "I figured so much. Does that mean that we're not going to have an earthquake today then?"

"ugh…I'm never going to jump again in my life…" junjin said. He looked to his side at the ground. Suddenly, a cockroach jumped out of nowhere and skittered across the floor.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" junjin snapped up and jumped onto the couch.

"oh geez, junjin, will you not scream like that! You sound like an old lady with her hair caught on fire," eric said. He then walked to the kitchen. "is kei back yet?"

andy shook his head. "nope."

Eric furrowed his eyebrows. "did she call?"

Again, andy shook his head.

"hmm…that's unlike her. it's almost 10 o'clock. Hmmm…well…" eric opened the fridge and looked inside. "man you guys. Who left an empty milk carton in here?"

junjin and andy pointed at each other. "he did it," they simultaneously accused. Right after that, andy burped.

"haha, busted!" junjin laughed.

Eric glared at andy. "great, andy. And just because of that, you get to come with me to the market. We need some more milk…and other stuff."

"awww, do I have to? I hate shopping. Dongwan usually does that for me at the dorms."

"and kei usually does it here. Junjin's supposed to do it occassionally too." Eric glared at junjin.

"aite aite. I'll do it next time. Right now, I'm too sore to get up," junjin said from his position on the couch.

"me too!" andy cried.

"nope, you're coming with me andy."

"no!"

eric walked over to andy. "you really not coming?"

"no, I'm not coming."

"alright. I have no choice. You asked for it." Eric then reached and grabbed andy by the ear.

"yah yah yah! Oki oki I'll go I'll go! Let go! I don't want to end up looking like a one-eared tony ahn now!"

"too bad." Eric pulled andy's ear and pulled him out the door. Junjin sat on the couch laughing. He then laid down on the couch and closed his eyes.

A few moments later, the front door opened and closed. junjin looked towards the front door and found kei coming into the apartment.

"hey kei," junjin greeted kei.

"hey," kei softly and tiredly said back.

Junjin's eyebrows knit in concern at the sound of her voice. "kei?" he asked.

Kei didn't look up at junjin. Her long hair hid her face and junjin was unable to see kei's face. Kei just walked away into the hallway and into her room, closing the door behind her.

"what's wrong?" junjin thought to himself. He slowly got up from the couch and walked over to kei's room.

knock knock.

"kei? Kei, what's wrong? Can I come in?"

there was no answer.

"hey…hey kei, I'm going to come in, oki?" junjin slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. He peered inside and found kei sitting on her bed, a blank look on her face. However, junjin saw the red and puffy eyes. He limped over to her bed and sat down.

"kei? What's wrong? Were you crying?"

kei slowly shook her head. Junjin sighed.

"kei, I know you were. Do you want to talk about it?"

kei didn't move.

"hmmm…did someone do something to you?"

kei shook her head.

"did you do something to someone else?"

kei shook her head.

"are you mad or something? are you mad at me and andy for making too much noise on DDR? I'm sorry, I'll stop. I can't play anymore now anywayz, my legs hurt too much. I promise I'll turn my music down too. I promise to not take your CDs anymore…but then your music's so good. I promise to cook you dinner…wait, my cooking looks like my chem lab experiments. Please, kei. Tell me what's wrong. I'm tripping out here now."

after a few seconds, tears started to slide down kei's cheeks.

"oh no kei, please don't do this to me. I dunno what to do if you start crying on me now. please no…no, don't kei, don't cry…don't cry, cuz I'm afraid…I'm afraid I…I might…might cry too…" junjin's voice began to become higher pitched and his eyes began to moisten. "please kei, tell me what's wrong. You're making me sad too—"

all of the sudden, junjin got cut off by kei throwing her arms around his neck. Junjin's eyes widened in surprise.

"junjin…" kei sobbed. "i…i…I'm so confused…"

"what? Confused about what?"

"…I…I don't know…"

"what? How can you be confused and not know what you're confused about?"

"…i…I don't know…if…if…"

"if what?" junjin started to rub kei's back.

"…if I…" kei then shook her head.

Seeing that kei was not going to tell him what was on her mind, junjin just sat there and tried to calm kei down. "it's oki. No matter what it is, just cry everything out. you'll feel better."

Kei continued to cry on junjin's shoulder. After about 10 minutes, kei's sobs ceased and junjin felt kei weigh heavier against him. he carefully placed her onto her bed and tucked her in. he stood up from the bed and sighed.

"she's stressed. I should start treating her a lil better, respect her a lil more. No more DDR…for a while." He then looked down and saw a big stain on his shirt from her crying. "eeek…I need to get this washed…but kei does my laun…eh, no, I guess it wouldn't be a good time to wake her up now." Junjin then left the room and closed the door behind him.

hyesung sat at his desk typing away at his computer, H.O.T. blasting out from the speakers. He was back from his dinner with soo yung, disappointed and frustrated.

"I had another freakin' chance to confess to her. but…what's holding me back? How come I can't open up to her? how come I can't ask her out? I know I like her. I've liked her all my life, and now here's my chance, but what's up? What's wrong with me?" his fingers stopped typing on the keypad and he blankly stared into the screen. H.O.T.'s 'free to fly' started to sound in the room.

"argh!" hyesung cried. He pounded his desk with his fist, making a lot of the stuff on top of the desk jump. "what is wrong with me? everywhere I go I think of—" he cut himself off before he finished his sentence. Resting his pulsating hand on his desk, he heaved a big sigh. He didn't try to put out the reminiscing of the night he, soo yung, minwoo, and kei went out to the karaoke bar…the three taking over the mike while kei sat out the whole night…kei's surprising performance at the end of the night… hyesung lost himself in the recollection of the night.

"things are so different now," he said softly to himself as he thought back to how soo yung cuddled up with minwoo the whole night. minwoo looked a little preoccupied at the time, but he always did and hyesung never thought much about it before. Hyesung realized now that minwoo was actually staring at kei that night…

"minwoo, I still can't believe you. Do you know that soo yung is still hurting over you? she won't even dare bring up your name anymore. she won't come by the room anymore because she's afraid of seeing you…even though if you haven't shown up for the past few days now…no, it's been almost a week now. where are you lee minwoo? I don't know how I feel towards you now, minwoo. I dunno if I should still be mad at you or be worried for you. you make soo yung all happy and stuff and then you just break her heart. But…where are you? ergh!" hyesung leaned back in his seat. He looked over to his CD towers. By some unknown force, his eyes automatically fell upon a CD case, and he reached over and took it out. he stopped his H.O.T. CD and popped in the other CD. The revised version of his composition played through the room, and hyesung's mind wandered to a familiar face…

"no!" abruptly, hyesung pressed the power button of his computer, shutting the whole system down. Hyesung found himself breathing very hard. "that's it, no more games, hyesung. You are going to ask soo yung out tomorrow after class, and that's that."

Chapter 43

"oh, look who's here today," professor jo said happily. The class turned around and saw another person coming through the door in the back.

"hello prof. Jo. Long time no see," the person said. He walked up to professor jo.

"long time no see, kangta. Class, I'd like to introduce you to ahn chilhyun, but I believe he's better known around here as kangta, am I right?"

kangta shrugged, a smile on his face as he looked at prof. Jo through his shades.

"kangta is one of the best music students in this school. The works he's come up with is absolutely outstanding."

"oh prof. Jo, stop," kangta said, laughing.

"hmmm…I believe I have his composition tape with me too. Lemme go find it." And prof. Jo left the room to get the tape.

The class started to talk among themselves. Kangta scanned the faces of the class and then his eyes fell upon hyesung. He smiled to himself, and he slowly walked up to hyesung's seat. "well if it isn't shin hyesung. I didn't know that you would be in this class."

"hyesung's our TA," the girl sitting behind hyesung told kangta.

Kangta looked at hyesung with sparkling eyes. "TA, huh? For a incoming sophomore? That's not bad," kangta said in a surprised tone. Hyesung just ignored kangta and continued to doodle on his paper.

Kei listened to kangta speaking about hyesung, and she could note the obvious snobbish tone as he spoke. Kei looked at hyesung who was keeping his eyes intent on his doodle. Kei then looked back up at kangta. Orangish-blonde hair, a long face, and orange shades to complement the hair. He was dressed in a tan shirt and white pants with brown boots.

"wow, he's so good looking," a girl whispered from behind hyesung.

"yeah…I dunno. I think hyesung's not bad looking himself," another girl whispered back.

"hmm…you're right. He acts all cool and anti-social and everything, but he does look cute. Sigh, that's pretty cool. Two good looking guys standing right there in front of us now."

"yeah, how many times do you see that happen? Personally, I think hyesung looks better than kangta."

"mebbe. But I think kangta looks good too."

"I heard that he's going after this one girl now…"

"really? I wish that kangta would go after me. he's so cute," the first girl sighed.

He is? His chin sticks out. I think his face looks like a banana for crying out loud, hyesung thought again to himself.

Prof. Jo then came into the room with a tape in his hand. "look class, I found kangta's tape. It's not his first composition, but I believe that it'd be worth listening to still." Prof. Jo then popped the tape into his stereo and he turned up the volume. A soft melody played into the room, and there was a sound of awes coming from the class. hyesung looked at kangta as she saw him smile to himself. Hyesung rolled his eyes. All of the sudden, there was singing coming from the tape, and the class immediately responded with whoas and wows. hyesung rolled his eyes again.

Oh man, who does he think he is? He sang for his composition too? he thought to himself.

"yes class, even though it wasn't required, our star student kangta here wrote lyrics and sang for his piece. Isn't that talented of him?"

no, it's just big-headed of him. look at him grin to himself. Does he really think he sings that great? It's a strong voice, but somehow on the tape, it seems too strong…overdone…forced…doesn't fit the song at all…

the piece ended and there was applause coming from the class. Prof. Jo came up from behind kangta and patted him on the back. Kangta just smiled at prof. Jo and he smiled at the class.

"well done, kangta. That piece was well done," prof. Jo said.

"thank you, prof. Jo," kangta said, "though that was one of my worst pieces. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on that."

"you're just being modest kangta," prof. Jo said. "and that just shows how talented you are. While many of us spend days and months on our music, you can come up with music like that in shorter time."

"hehehe…I guess I'm just lucky and blessed."

Mebbe you should spend more time on that voice of yours…it cracked at the end, mr. Talented, hyesung thought to himself.

Prof. Jo patted kangta on the back again and looked at the clock. "well, I think that's all the time we have for today class. Remember, your own compositions are due this Friday, so I expect some good and satisfactory work, oki class? Class dismissed."

The students picked up their stuff and headed out the door. Kei hurriedly packed up her stuff and ran out the door. She reached the parking lot and walked up to eric's car. Because she was running errands for eric and junjin, eric let kei borrow the car for the day. Kei opened the door and let herself in. she picked up the list from the passenger seat and looked at the first errand she had to run.

"junjin's laundry. Sigh. The whole days shot there. I'm a girl, but he has more clothes than I do…"

"shin hyesung, would you like to do me the honor of allowing me to invite you to lunch?" kangta said as he followed hyesung out the building. Hyesung continued to walk away from the building and campus and through a secluded street.

hyesung didn't even bother to look at kangta. "I'm busy."

Kangta abruptly grabbed hyesung's arm with a firm grip. "I believe you'll have to, whether you want to or not."

Hyesung stared intensely into kangta's hard stare. "no."

anger rose in kangta's eyes. "look, just cuz soo yung's having you act as her boyfriend and everything doesn't make you any better than me."

"I never said I was better than you," hyesung simply stated.

"I know you think you are. But you listen here. You will stay away from soo yung."

"and what if I don't? I've known soo yung for all my life. We both go way back. No one's going to tell me to stay away from my lifelong friend."

"lifelong friend? If you had known her for so long, why didn't you ask her out earlier?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"I don't care. I want you gone from soo yung."

hyesung took kangta's hand and shook it away from him. "look, fool. Don't you see that she doesn't like you? just leave her alone for crying out loud."

Kangta stepped up to hyesung and stared at hyesung square into the eye. "are you going to stay away from her or not?"

"why are you being so stupid and immature, mr. Star-student-composer? I would've thought that you would know better than to resort to this."

Kangta narrowed his eyes. "shut up you idiot!"

"is that all you can come up with? Being the great lyricist you are, you should have a better vocab than that."

"ahhh!" kangta screamed in frustration and anger. He then raised his fist and punched hyesung in the face. Hyesung grabbed his face in pain and stumbled backwards. Kangta ran up to hyesung and pushed him to the ground. Hyesung fell back to the ground and he hit his head hard on the concrete pavement, making him dizzy and slightly unconscious. Kangta then began to kick him hard.

"this should teach you a lesson to mess with me, shin hyesung. People like you need a beating." Kangta continued to kick hyesung in the stomach and beat him in the face.

"hey kei, I won't be able to go home until late tonight, so I have to ask you a favor," dongwan said into the phone.

"oh really? Oki, what do you want me to do?"

dongwan smiled. "I want you to bring me dinner. I want to spend my dinner hour with you."

kei smiled to herself. "now why would you want to waste it on me? wasn't there a pretty looking girl at your office…what's her name? Sharon? Samantha? Sara! That's it…doesn't she have the hots for you or something? Why don't you go with her?"

"ugh, don't mention her. she's as fake as they can come. Too much makeup and everything. And besides…you know that the only one for me is you."

"eww, stop with the mushy stuff. I'll come by at around 7, oki? I have to run some errands for eric and junjin, but I should be done by then."

"oki. Hey, I have to go now. talk to you later, dear."

"bye dongwan."

click. Dongwan smiled as he hung up the phone. He then walked into the office. A middle-aged man sitting at the desk held up some folders to dongwan.

"dongwan, can you take these files and file them?"

"sure dr. ok." Dongwan took the manila folders from the doctor and walked out of the office and towards the filing room. he walked into the room and to the appropriate file cabinet. He pulled out a file drawer…

soft sounds of heels sounded in the room.

"oh dongwan! I didn't know that you were in here!" a high-pitched voice said. Dongwan winced and then turned around. "hi sara. I didn't know that you were in here either."

Sara slowly walked up to dongwan. she tossed her long black extended hair over her shoulder and batted her long cakey lashes. "oh, did you miss me or something?"

I wish I did MISS her, as in not seeing her, dongwan thought to himself. He then put up a smile. "I would, but I just saw you 2 minutes ago. We work at the same place."

"well…" she walked up close to dongwan and leaned against him. she raised her finger and started to draw circles with her nail on his jacket. "…I missed you…" she said in a soft whispy voice.

dongwan refrained from busting out laughing. He raised her eyebrows at her. "oh really?"

"you know…" she continued in her whispy voice. "…ever since I started working here 2 weeks ago…meeting you then…I felt this invisible attraction towards you…

and I can feel your attraction to me…"

this time dongwan almost choked. "I'm…I'm sorry?"

"oh dongwan!" she whined, pushing him with her finger. "you can look so adorable, just like a little boy."

Dongwan raised an eyebrow. "uh, I'm really flattered with all this, sara, but I'm sorry to say that I already have a girlfriend…a girlfriend I love VERY much. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to come on to me anymore."

"oh come on dongwan. don't you know how strongly I feel for you?"

"perhaps, but I myself feel very strongly for my girlfriend." Dongwan then scooted away from sara and walked out of the filing room. sara followed dongwan with her eyes, a smug smile on her face.

"he's mine."

3 hours later…

"yes, I'm finally done! I never knew that guys could have so much laundry," kei muttered to herself. She looked at her watch. "almost 5 o'clock. Hmmm…I have 4 more hours. I'll go to the supermarket now and get groceries…" she threw the bag of clothes over her shoulder, lugged it to the car and threw it into the car. She got into the driver's seat and drove the car out of the laundromat parking lot.

She was cruising down the street and she saw a figure walk unstably out from behind a building. The figure walked into the street and fell down in the middle of the street.

"oh no!" kei cried.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! Kei slammed the brakes and the car stopped right before the fallen figure. Kei hurried out of the car and to the figure.

"oh my gosh, I hope I didn't hit a person, eric would kick my—hyesung!" kei's eyes widened at hyesung's beaten face and the scratches and bruises on his arms. "what happened! Oh my gosh hyesung!" kei looked around, but she didn't find a another person or car in sight. She then took hyesung's arm, threw it around her shoulder, and slowly pulled him up. She half pulled half dragged him to the passenger's side of the car and with much trouble, she finally managed to get him into the seat and buckled in. she then got in the car herself and sped towards the apartment.

She reached the apartment in a short time. She ran over to the passenger's side of the car and half carried half dragged hyesung to the door of her apartment. She finally managed to open the door and walk into the apartment with hyesung. Junjin and eric weren't back yet and the apartment was empty. Kei slowly carried hyesung to her room and threw his weak body onto her bed. She straightened his body out and then rushed to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit and a wet washcloth. She hurried back to the room and tried to treat some of his cuts which was still bleeding.

"oh my gosh, what happened hyesung? Why does it look like someone beat you up? Please tell me you're still oki. Stay strong oki?" kei said out loud, not caring if hyesung heard her or not. She applied medicine to all of hyesung's bruises and cuts. After she was done, she took the washcloth and carefully wiped hyesung's face. As she did so, she felt her heartache every time she touched a wound. She refrained from letting a tear fall down her cheek.

"that pale face is now all hurt and cut and bruised…what happened hyesung? How did you become like this? Why? Why do I feel this way? I feel concerned and scared that you're hurt, but it feels like it's more than just that…" she pulled her hand away from hyesung's face and just stared at him.

why do I feel this way? My heart aches so bad…more than I think it should. Why do I feel so…so guilty? Guilty for what? Hyesung…hyesung… kei let her hand act on its own and it reached over and brushed hyesung's hair out of his face. She began to gingerly touch his face, the once pale face that was now black and blue. She trembled slightly from the touch of the large bruise on his head.

"who would do such a thing? Who would be so cruel hearted?" kei muttered to herself. She blinked her tears back which were burning to cry. She started to breathe harder from the pain she felt in her heart. Not able to look at him any longer, she turned around and stared at the wall. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

She then sighed deeply and opened her eyes. Hesitantly, she slowly got up and left the room. she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

"no, this isn't the time, kei. Don't let your feelings get in the way now. right now, hyesung just needs your help. You need to watch over him and take care of him until he wakes up and he's oki. That's all. You have dongwan, and you should be happy. You should." But deep down inside, kei didn't totally agree with herself. "don't be silly, kei. You love dongwan, and dongwan loves you deeply." She looked at her watch. It was a little after 6. "I have to go get dinner for dongwan. that's it. If I go see dongwan now, everything should be oki. I'll get back on track and remind myself who my boyfriend really is." She walked towards the door and took one last look at hyesung lying in her bed. She then closed the door and left the apartment.

Dongwan leaned back in his chair, yawned and stretched his arms. He then looked at the clock. "6:24. Good. Another half hour and kei should be here. I hope dr. ok won't mind me having dinner in here with kei. Well, he better not mind, making me stay after office hours and everything. Oh well, it'll be all worth it if kei comes." He smiled at the thought of kei. "I'm really lucky. Real lucky."

Knock knock.

"come in," dongwan called out.

the door opened a sara walked into the room. the smile disappeared from dongwan's face.

"dongwan! you're still here! look, it's almost 6:30. You want to go to dinner with me? I know this great restaurant near here!" sara exclaimed in an excited voice.

"no it's oki, sara. I already have a date for dinner," dongwan politely refused.

"oh? And who may the lucky person be?"

"my girlfriend."

A frown settled on sara's face, but it soon disappeared as she walked over to dongwan's chair and sat down on the armrest. Dongwan looked her in surprise at her bold action.

"dongwan, come on. I really like you. won't you give me one chance?"

"sara, for the last time, I already have a girlfriend, and I would like you to respect that," dongwan firmly told her. he abruptly got up out of his seat when sara tried to scoot in closer and rub her hip against him. the sudden imbalance of weight on the chair made the chair fall over and sent sara falling with it.

"ow!" sara cried out, rather ungracefully.

Dongwan stifled a laugh at the funny looking fall and he reached out his hand. "I'm sorry. Lemme help you—wha!" sara, an unusually strong girl, pulled on dongwan's arm and kicked his leg, making him fall over and land on his head. The impact of his head on the floor made dongwan dizzy and close to becoming unconscious.

"oww! Ooohhhh" he moaned as he grasped his head at where he hit the floor.

Sara sat up and looked at dongwan. she straightened her hair and brushed the dust off of her. she then stared at dongwan, smugly smiled, and bent over him. she placed her hands on his shoulders and followed their shape. Her hands then made their way to his chest.

Nice body, sara smirked to herself. Her hands then made their way around his waist and she wrapped her arms around his waist and she hugged him tight.

Sara smirked as she lowered her face to his. "this is for you dongwan baby," she whispered. She closed her eyes and then pressed her lips against his. Dongwan, still in pain, was unable to pull away. He couldn't take control and keep his lips closed, which were now being invaded by sara's tongue that was slowly and hungrily making its entrance into his mouth. Her tongue then filled his mouth, exploring its contours. As sara kissed him, she started to loosen dongwan's tie and unbutton his shirt…

"dongwan?" a soft voice said from behind the slightly open door.

Sara ignored the voice and continued to take the buttons out of their slits. She then heard something drop to the ground, and it was then that sara looked up. There standing at the door was kei, a very shocked and heartbroken expression on her face. As soon as kei's eyes met sara's, kei turned around on her heels and ran out of the room, leaving behind the dropped bags of dinner. Sara smirked. She got up from the floor and walked over to the door. She pushed the door shut and locked it…

Kei roughly wiped the tears pouring out of her eyes now. she drove the car back to the apartment rather speedily and waveringly. She neared accidents a number of times on the trip back. But she made it back in one piece. She got out of the car and powerwalked back into the apartment. She marched all the way to her room and threw open the door, making the door slam against the wall.

At the loud sound, hyesung started to waken a little bit out of his unconscious state. he was still unable to move, but his eyes began to stir. "uhhhh…" he started to moan softly.

Without anymore hesitation, kei walked directly to the bed, took hyesung's face in her hands, and pressed her lips hard against hyesung's.

Chapter 44

Hyesung blinked at the bright white scenery before him. it was so bright at first that even when he closed his eyes, the brightness penetrated through his eyelids. Once the light started to lessen, the white then morphed and hyesung suddenly found himself in a beautiful forest with tall trees surrounding him and the daylight sun brightly shining on him. hyesung turned in circles in his spot, taking in the scenery.

"hyesung…" a soft pleasant voice said in the blowing wind.

Hyesung turned around and brushed his windblown hair out of his face. He squinted at the bright light coming from before him and brought his hand over his eyes to shield some of the brightness away. Out of the light, he made out a figure slowly making its way toward him. a faint smile played upon hyesung's lips.

"soo yung," he said to himself. At the thought of soo yung, positive emotions filled within him. he thought of her beauty, her grace, her poise…all within that body that was now approaching him. she was dressed in a simple white dress and she was surrouded by a soft white light, making her look more unreal and angelic. Her dainty barefeet slowly walked upon the grass as she neared hyesung.

"hyesung…" her voice echoed again through the forest. She stood before hyesung, looking deep into his deep brown with her own eyes, at the moment with the color green, matching the evergreen of the forest they both now stood within.

"hyesung…"

"soo yung…"

soo yung then stretched her glowing hands towards hyesung. Hyesung saw the outstretched arms and reached out his own hands to take hers. As he closed his hands over hers, his fingers went through her hands and they grabbed air. Hyesung looked at soo yung in confusion. Soo yung, however, kept her angelic smile on her face.

"soo yung?"

soo yung continued to stare at him with the same smile, but hyesung now noticed that she was floating away from him.

"soo yung? soo yung!" he called out after her. he reached out to her, but found that he was unable to move from his spot. Soon, soo yung disappeared and the forest then morphed into another scenery. Hyesung closed his eyes at the sudden dizziness that came upon him. when he felt a little more stable, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself in his former high school.

"huh?" he asked, confused. "what am I doing here?"

he took a few cautious steps down the familiar empty hallway. His footsteps echoed down the hallway.

He stopped walking as he spotted his old locker. His eyes then slowly moved to another locker a few lockers away. Soo yung's locker. He looked at it with a nostalgic feeling.

Suddenly, two figures appeared in front of the locker. Soo yung and…dongwan. hyesung's eyes widened in surprise. A younger Soo yung was putting stuff into her locker while dongwan leaned against the lockers facing soo yung, smiling and laughing with soo yung. hyesung blinked his eyes a few times. "what's going on? why am I seeing this?" he then glanced back towards his own locker and he found another figure standing nearby…himself. A younger hyesung was looking in soo yung and dongwan's direction, a sad look on his face.

Hyesung saddened at the image before him. revived feelings of sadness and gloom settled within him. He looked around the hallway and found images popping up before him—soo yung and dongwan walking to class together, holding hands, exchanging kisses…in all these images, happiness showed in their actions. And in all these images, hyesung saw his own image, standing off in a distance with the same sad look on his face.

The school then started to fade away and another scenery started to form. This time, it was another hallway. The hallway of their dormitory floor. Hyesung looked around. It was empty, but hyesung had a feeling it wouldn't be empty for very long.

Sure enough, two figures appeared before him, in front of room 1004, soo yung's room. it was soo yung and minwoo in each other's arms. By now, hyesung did not have the same happy feelings as he did when he saw the first angelic image of soo yung. instead, feelings of pain and sadness overtook his heart. He watched as soo yung and minwoo happily laughed and smiled within each other's embrace. Hyesung looked towards his room, and sure enough, there was his image, looking at soo yung and minwoo with the same sad look on his face.

"soo yung…how…how can you make me so happy yet so sad at the same time?" hyesung softly said to himself. "I feel so happy when I'm with you, but I'm always so sad when I see you, because you're never really with me…I now realize this empty feeling that I've always had when I'm with you…but…how…how am I going to fill this hole in me? are you not the one to make me whole? Aren't you? if not, then who…"

there was a loud banging sound and quick and heavy footsteps then sounded a distance away. They seemed to come from the other side of the hallway, and hyesung looked to that direction. A hazy image appeared before him, and the hallway disappeared, along with soo yung and minwoo. Now, hyesung found himself lying down on a bed in an unfamiliar room. everything seemed very blurry to him and no matter how times hyesung blinked, his vision still wouldn't get any more clear. Although he couldn't see, he heard perfectly clearly that there was someone outside approaching the room. someone running.

Before hyesung knew it, he felt pressure against his lips. He squeezed his eyes shut, not knowing what was going on or what to do. Whatever it was that was pressing against his lips, it was soft and warm, like…lips. It now made sense to hyesung because he somehow could feel a hint of sadness and desperation from the pressure, from the kiss. Hyesung tried to open his eyes to see who it was, but his eyes refused to open. All of the sudden, the pressure disappeared and his lips were left cold from the sudden transition of the warm kiss to the cool air. Hyesung managed to open his eyes slightly, and he saw a figure run out of a door. Then everything turned dark again and hyesung fell back to unconsciousness.

Junjin let himself into the apartment.

"hmmm…eric's at work and andy's nowhere to be found. Sigh, what a boring day. Oh well, I guess I go bug kei." Junjin then stopped in his tracks. "hmm…I wonder if that's a good idea…she was crying really hard yesterday. Wonder what made her all upset and everything….hmmmmm……well, I guess I'll just have to go cheer her up, won't I?" junjin them smiled and nodded to himself. "that's right. There's no one that can resist junjin's great sense of humor. I shall go cheer her up." He set his backpack on the living room couch and then walked into the hallway towards kei's room.

hyesung finally opened his eyes and as he blinked away the haziness in his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. he tried to move, but then he moaned as he felt pain stab him everywhere on his body. He lifted his head a little and saw large bruises and cuts on him.

"kangta," he mouthed bitterly. Then, painfully and slowly, he sat up in the bed and looked around him. he found himself in a small room, covered with a pale yellow blanket. The carpet was a light blue color, and the walls were off-white. The room was bare in its furnishings, except for the desk area situated at the foot of the bed against the wall. It had a computer and many papers and books scattered all over the desk area. A screensaver was now playing on the screen.

A breeze from the open window blew in and hyesung shivered. He looked down and realized for the first time that he was topless. There were more bruises and injuries on his body. "argh….kangta…" he slowly shifted his legs over the edge of the bed and got up from the bed. He painfully walked over to the open door…

"I'm home! You're most favorite person in the world is he—yaaaaaahhhhh!"

the next thing hyesung knew, another pain struck him in the face and he was on the floor moaning in pain again. He grabbed his face in pain.

"who are you and what have you done to kei!" a voice cried out. hyesung just laid on the ground, unable to answer.

"junjin!"

hyesung's eyes enlargened in surprise at the familiar voice. He turned towards the door and saw kei and a strange guy at the doorway…

"kei? Who is this guy? How come he's in your room?" junjin asked.

Kei looked at junjin and then looked at hyesung lying on the ground, gripping onto his face. She rushed over to hyesung and tried to drag his body back onto the bed. After a slight hesitation, junjin also went over and helped kei place hyesung back onto the bed. After they finally got hyesung onto the bed, kei reexamined his body for his wounds and examined his new one at his jaw. She reached over for a tissue and dabbed at the blood coming out of his mouth.

"well kei?"

kei looked up at junjin.

"are you going to tell me where you picked up this bum?"

kei looked at junjin. "bum?"

"isn't he one? He looks all beat up and everything."

"yeah, especially after you hit him too!" kei snapped at junjin angrily.

Junjin jumped at kei's angry remark. In all the time that he knew kei, he had never seen her angry before, and quite frankly, he was quite scared.

Kei sighed. "I'm sorry junjin. I didn't mean to snap at you. this is my friend hyesung, not some bum I picked up off the street."

"ahhhh….i see I see. Stupid junjin, stupid junjin. I shoulda known better. Want me to slap myself for ya?"

Kei looked at junjin who was holding his hand up, ready to slap himself. She then smiled and shook her head. "no, that's oki."

Junjin smiled and lowered his hand. "good. Cuz I didn't want to slap myself in the first place. Do you know how much it hurts to get slapped?"

Kei shook her head. "junjin, you are one of a kind…"

Junjin cocked his head and looked at kei with an amused look. "are you feeling better from yesterday then?" he asked hopefully.

Kei looked at junjin and then looked at hyesung. She didn't answer his question.

Junjin then cleared his throat. "uhh…I guess hitting him didn't really help, huh? But I couldn't help it. I was expecting to find you in the room, but instead a black and blue polka-dotted guy popped out at me! what'd you expect me to do? It was natural reaction—"

"junjin, it's oki. I'm not mad," kei softly said, still dabbing at hyesung's mouth.

"oh. Oki. I'm sorry kei. I really didn't mean to."

"I know junjin. I know."

Junjin sighed in relief.

"what's going on here? I thought I heard a scream from outside. Was that you, kei?" junjin and kei turned and found eric appearing in the hallway.

"no that wasn't me," kei answered.

"you sure? I thought I heard a girl screa—oh never mind, you're home, junjin," eric said.

"hey hey hey. So sue me for having a girly scream," junjin defended himself.

"yeah yeah. Who's that?" eric peered into the room and looked at the figure on the bed. He then realized that it was hyesung. It's him, eric thought to himself. What's he doing here? What in the world happened to him? eric then looked at kei in confusion. Kei didn't look at eric, but continued treating hyesung's bloody lip. She could feel eric's eyes on her, but she didn't dare look back at him. kei knew what eric was thinking…

junjin noticed eric staring at kei and he waved his hand in front of his eyes. "you aite, man?"

eric broke off his gaze and looked at junjin. He then walked away without saying another word. Junjin looked at eric in confusion. He then looked at kei who was busy with treating hyesung.

"ahhhhh…I'm still bored…." He muttered to himself and walked off.

Kei stopped dabbing at hyesung's mouth. She then leaned back in her chair and stared at hyesung. She found her thoughts drift back to dongwan's office, where she saw him on the ground with the sara girl, his shirt opened and his mouth smeared with her lipstick. Tears formed in her eyes.

dongwan…how could you? I mean, I know that I don't deserve to be with a guy like you, and you can do a lot better than me, but…but seeing you like that…with her…it hurt…it really hurt…I can't explain the confusion and shock that I felt when I saw you on the ground with her…I guess…I guess sara can offer you more than I can ever offer…and I guess…sob…I guess this is what I guess for having mixed feelings and not loving you whole-heartedly as you did to me…

kei then looked at hyesung and at his wounds. Her tears then spilled out of her eyes.

Hyesung…the one that is so cold to me…the one that thinks lowly of me…the one… the one…the one I can't erase from my thoughts… kei ran her hand through her hair. Who would do this to you? who would be so cruel to hurt you like this? Do you know…do you know…as much as I know I shouldn't…do you know how much I pain in seeing you like this? My heart is wrenching inside from just looking at you… hyesung…please be oki…please…for me…

Just then, hyesung's body started to twitch and he started to cough. Kei jumped in her seat.

"hyesung!" she cried.

Hyesung then fell back into the bed and started to moan. "ugh…….water…water…"

Within a split second, kei rushed to the kitchen and came back into the room with a glass and a pitcher of water. She filled the glass with water and then she propped hyesung's head up against her shoulder while she tried to get him to drink the water without choking on himself. Hyesung gulped the water hungrily and then started to spit some up. Kei tilted the glass away from his lips and set the glass down. She then set hyesung back down onto the bed and straightened him out. she took a towel and started to wipe the water on his shirt.

Hyesung finally stopped coughing and just laid there moaning. Kei sighed. She delicately brushed hyesung's hair out of his face.

Hyesung's eyes then began to open ever so slightly. He blinked, and then he looked in kei's direction.

"k…kei?" he asked in a weak voice.

"shhhh," kei hushed him. "don't say anything now. you're still hurt really bad."

Hyesung began to cough a little and then he tried to sit up in the bed. Kei helped him into a sitting position, placing a pillow behind his back for him to lean on. hyesung finally managed to sit up. He then raised his eyes and looked at kei. The same face that he had seen for the past few weeks in class that had always avoided his gaze. At the moment, kei was looking at hyesung with concerned eyes…beautiful concerned eyes…

"where…where am I?" hyesung asked.

"you're at my place now," kei softly answered.

Hyesung gave a confused look. "your…your place?"

"this is the place that I've lived in ever since I moved out of the dorms. This is my room."

hyesung squinted at the room around him. "your room?"

"yeah," kei answered, this time with a little waver in her voice. She then looked away. She couldn't bear to look at hyesung's injured state anymore. he can barely open his eyes cuz they're so swollen.

"how do you feel now?" kei softly asked.

"what?"

"how do you feel now?"

"…how do you think I feel now?" hyesung mildly snapped.

"…….I'm sorry. I should know better," kei apologized in a voice softer than a whisper.

"…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. it's just that—OW!" hyesung grabbed his side in pain.

"oh no, what's wrong?" kei spun around and leaned over to aid hyesung.

"my side…it hurts…"

"oh no…I hope you don't have any broken ribs or anything," kei said, frightened.

Hyesung looked at his side and saw a large bruise on his side. "it must just be the bruise," he said. "argh…"

"hyesung…who would do this to you?" kei softly asked.

Hyesung looked at kei and stared back at her brown eyes. He then shook his head. "you wouldn't believe me," he muttered.

"…I'll believe you…" kei whispered, lowering her face.

Hyesung looked back at kei and saw her downcast eyes. He then sighed. "even if I said who it was it would be hard to believe. I have a hard time believing myself."

"it's oki. I don't need to know." Kei then lifted her face to hyesung. "all I want now is for you to get better. You better get some rest. Come on, I'll help you." she got up from her seat and helped hyesung back onto his back. She tucked him in and stood up. "if you need anything, I'll be right here, oki?"

Hyesung looked up at kei through his puffy eyes. He shifted a little in the bed, grimacing in pain.

"go to sleep," kei said.

Not having enough energy to argue with kei or to say anymore, hyesung fell asleep on the bed.

Chapter 45

Eric sat in the living room just staring into space.

Why is he here? The guy who insulted her? the one who causes her to be so sad…

"yes, because of you! How can you do this to soo yung!" hyesung began to shout.

"do what?" kei asked, frightened.

"make minwoo break up with soo yung you back-stabbing tramp!" hyesung screamed at the top of his lungs.

Eric ran his hands through his long hair and leaned back on the couch.

Junjin came out of the hallway and sat down next to eric. "hey eric, what's up? You don't look so good…like something's on your mind…"

Eric blew out a breath. "well, you're right about one thing for once. There is something on my mind…"

"what is it?"

Eric shook his head. "actually, I don't know what it is."

Junjin eyed eric. "it's not about kei and that polka-dotted monster in her room, is it?"

Eric didn't answer.

Junjin let out a loud sigh. "that girl's really getting to you, huh? I mean, I know I like kei too and everything, so does andy…but you seem to be more fond of her than us two. That right?"

eric still didn't answer. In reality, he didn't know how to answer. He didn't know how he felt.

Junjin looked at eric. "you aite buddy?"

Eric finally snapped back to his senses and looked at junjin. He nodded. "yeah I'm cool."

"good. For a moment there I thought you were spacing out and stuff. So…who's the creature inside?"

eric looked away. "I don't know him that well. I just know…"

"just know what?"

eric didn't answer junjin.

I just know that he hurt kei…

The morning rays poured through the window and penetrated hyesung's face. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. He finally opened his eyes as wide as he could and looked up at the crème-colored ceiling. He then looked to his left and found kei slumped in a chair, sleeping upright.

Hyesung stared at kei's sleeping figure. She looked the same as before, with her long hair tied back into a simple ponytail away from her round face. Her head was slightly bowed and resting forward. Her skin was now slightly tanner, and she seemed a little skinnier than before.

Hyesung tried to move but fell back onto the bed wincing in pain. Kei's eyes then started to stir awake.

"mmm…oh…hyesung, you're awake," she said.

"mmm…" hyesung said.

Kei rubbed her face. "what time is it?" she glanced at the desk clock. "8:46. I guess I should get ready for class." She then turned to hyesung. "do you want me to tell prof. Jo that you won't be coming to class for a few days?"

Hyesung just looked at kei. He then slightly nodded.

Kei nodded back. "oki. I'm going to get ready for school." She then got up from the chair. "did you need something?"

Hyesung shook his head.

"oki. I'm going to go wash up then." Kei then left the room, leaving hyesung alone in the room. hyesung stared back up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

Kei walked out of the bathroom after washing up and she bumped into eric.

"morning eric," she greeted.

"morning. You oki kei?" he asked.

Kei looked up at eric. "yeah I'm oki. Why do you ask?"

"oh nothing, it's just that…I don't know…I just find it weird that…well…you know… that guy hyesung being here and all…"

she looked up at eric confidently. "eric, it's oki. I just found him on the street yesterday beaten to a pulp, and I had to help him. I couldn't just leave him there. I know what you're thinking, but it's really oki. What's happened before did hurt, but hyesung and I were friends before that, and I have to help him."

eric stared into kei's eyes. He then sighed. "well, I guess if you're oki with it, it's cool. Just…just be careful oki?"

kei nodded. "I know. I have to go to class now. hyesung will be staying in my room."

"how long do you plan to keep him here?"

"I had planned to take him back to the dorm yesterday, but after junjin punched him yesterday, there was no way he could go back to the dorm without anyone to watch over him."

"what about his roommate?"

kei grew solemn. "…his…his roommate is minwoo…"

eric became silent. "I see. You probably didn't want to risk seeing your friend, uh, soo yung, too, huh?"

kei grew solemn and looked away.

Eric cleared his throat. "I'm…I'm off to work. I'll see you tonight."

Kei nodded. "see you tonight." Eric then walked away and out of the apartment. Kei turned and walked back into her room where hyesung laid.

"hyesung. If you need anything, I'll be leaving class a little early so I can check up on you, oki? I'll be back mebbe around 12:30, how about that?"

hyesung didn't make any response. Kei just sighed and picked up her bag.

"I'll, um, I'll see you later." With that, kei left the room, once again, leaving hyesung alone in the room. hyesung kept his eyes closed and let fatigue overcome him and went to sleep.

Ring…ring…ring…ring…

"hmmm…where is she?" raymond ahn said as he placed the phone on its receiver. "even if she's sick, she should pick up. She said she would only be gone for a day. Hmmm…"

hyesung woke up again an hour later. He spent a few minutes just staring at the ceiling for a few moments. Finally, he slowly and painstakingly sat up in the bed and got out. he made his way out of the room and found the bathroom. He turned on the water in the sink and splashed his face with the cold water. He then looked at himself in the mirror and cringed. He looked horrible, with all the marks and bruises on him. he turned away, not wating to look at his reflection anymore. he made his way slowly back to kei's room and sat back down on the bed. He looked towards the computer area, and the computer was on with the same screensaver playing on the screen. He then looked towards the bedside dresser and saw a familiar object on top.

"yellow notebook…"

dongwan cautiously walked towards dr. ok's room, his mind jumbled with thoughts.

"gosh, I hope he didn't call me to his office to talk about anything from last night. oh gosh, how could sara have done that to me? if I hadn't finally snapped back to my senses and pushed her off of me, who knows what could have happened? Gosh, I can't believe she was stripping me…in mr ok's office of all places! Man, I'm in trouble now…mr. Ok's going to kill me! and what's worse, I'll be the laughingstock of the whole office! Argh! Stupid sara! This is all your fault!"

dongwan approached dr. ok's door and reluctantly knocked on it.

"come in," a gruff voice said from the other side.

Dongwan gulped, and slowly pushed the door open.

Dr. ok looked up from his desk. "dongwan, come in, I have to talk to you."

Dongwan froze. Aww man, this does not look good.

"I won't keep you long. I want to talk to you about last night."

oh man, I'm in for it now. "dr. ok, listen, what happened last ni—"

"whatever happened last night I hope will not to happen again."

Dongwan lowered his head in embarassment. "I'm sorry dr. ok."

"look dongwan, I don't mind you having dinner in my office, especially since I asked you to stay after office hours and everything…"

dongwan's head shot up. Huh? What's he saying?

Dr. ok reached under the desk and pulled out a lumpy and smelly bag. "…but next time, please don't leave food in my office. It made my whole room smell."

Dongwan's eyes widened. He took a step forward and carefully took the bag from dr. ok. "uh, yes, never again dr. ok."

Dr. ok nodded. "that will be all dongwan. get back to work."

"yes dr. ok." Dongwan, in a daze, turned on his heels and exited the room. once he was out of the room, he rushed to the next cross corridor, leaned against the wall and breathed erratically.

"oh my gosh, I thought I was dead meat!" he then started laughing and looked at the bag he held in his hand. "gosh, I thought he knew about what sara did to me last night…hmm…what is this?" dongwan opened the bag and looked inside. "chinese food? I don't remember buying chinese…" dongwan trailed off. Realization then dawned on him and his eyes shot wide open. "KEI!"

chapter 46

hyesung reached over and picked up the yellow notebook.

"it's been a while since I've seen you," hyesung said to the notebook. Hyesung slowly opened the book and gazed upon the familiar looking pages. Hyesung looked through the early pages of the diary, ones that he had already read long ago. He came upon the last entry he remembered reading. He then started on the next entry…

oh man, I feel so weird now. I just came back from hyesung and minwoo's room. I fell asleep in there. Soo yung and minwoo were studying for their history midterms in here so I went over to the guys' room with hyesung.

I've avoided writing about him before, but now I won't. You know, the more I get to know hyesung, the more I see that he's really not that bad of a guy. We went out to lunch today, and at first he was kinda out of it. I mean, he wouldn't talk or anything. But then later on when we were eating and everything, we started to get a little more relaxed I guess. I dunno. I guess I like seeing this side of hyesung more. He's really a nice person to be with…if he's not calling me fat or ugly at the time.

Hyesung sighed. He read the last sentece again and slightly cringed.

Hey diary, it's been quite a while since I've written in here. Sorry. Actually, I haven't been home for a few days, which is why I haven't written in here. um, a lot has happened, actually. Right now, I just feel kinda…I dunno…confused? Sigh. Friday, I went out with soo yung, minwoo, and hyesung to the karaoke bar. It was fun. Soo yung, minwoo, and hyesung have really good voices. I mean, minwoo's aiya's were kinda ear-screeching, but he sings and raps real well. I can't believe that they made me sing tho. I mean, I love singing and everything, and I've sung with soo yung many times before, but…I felt that I wouldn't have been able to sing then, in front of minwoo or hyesung. I dunno. I did sing tho. I sang as one's 'day by day.' I dunno. I felt that that was the only song that I would want to have sung. Mebbe cuz…from the day I was at hyesung's room when I was falling asleep. When I finished singing, everyone just kinda sat there. I dunno why, but I just busted out crying. Don't ask. I kinda expected them to think real lowly of my singing, but…I dunno…I was really sensitive at that moment…but I was oki at the end. I don't know if I was imagining things, but hyesung seemed to be extra nice that day. I thought that mebbe he was changing his attitude towards me…

Saturday…one of the most whackiest days I've ever had. I spent the first half of the day with dongwan. we went to lunch, a movie, and then we kinda hung out at the park. It was a pleasant date, I guess you can say. I feel real relaxed when I'm with dongwan. when I'm with him, I feel like I don't have to hide anything. I think he's the first person that I've told a little of my past to, about how dad left me and mom. I learned a little about his past too. His mom left him when he was real young, so he doesn't even remember her. I don't know who's worse off, him not remembering his mother, or me remembering how dad left me…

I, um, I finally got back to the dorm at around 5 something. When I got back to my room, soo yung told me that hyesung was looking for me…

You know, just hearing her say that made me feel all exhilarated. I mean, for the past few days hyesung was being real nice towards me, and…the thought of him looking for me kinda made me feel real warm inside…but…I shoulda known better… I mean, like he said, what would he want with a fat ugly dog like me? when he said that, I just had to leave. I didn't want to go back to my room and let soo yung see me cry, and I felt like I couldn't breathe, so I just left the building. I don't know. All my life, I've had people call me names and insult me, but I never really let it get to me. but this time it came from hyesung, and it got to me deep inside. Real deep. I guess I was just hoping for too much. I mean, who am I kidding? Just because you like the guy doesn't make him like you back, babo kei…

Hyesung's eyes widened. "wait, what! Kei…kei liked me! how? Why? How can that be?" he returned to the diary…

…why would hyesung want to go for a girl like me? I mean, I even know that he still cares for soo yung, even though she's going out with minwoo now. I can tell by how he is around her. it…I dunno…I can just tell that it's more than a friend would be for another friend…hyesung still hasn't gotten over soo yung…

"hmmmm…she knows that I like soo yung…" deep down inside, hyesung felt somewhat guilty…

…that night, I just walked and walked in the night. I kinda lost direction I guess. I found out later that I had walked miles away from the dorm. Scary, huh? But you know what? I met eric, junjin, and their friend andy, who happens to be dongwan's roomie. I stayed with them in their apartment for a couple of days. I just didn't want to go back home yet. I didn't think that I would've been able to handle it, facing hyesung or soo yung or minwoo…

minwoo…he confessed to me last night we brought hyesung back from the club. Minwoo confessed that he liked me. gosh…all I was able to do then was leave the dorm again…that time, I really couldn't face going back to the dorm and seeing hyesung, soo yung, or minwoo. It's funny isn't it? Those three were the closest friends I had, yet, I can't face them now…

eric, junjin, and andy are totally different than soo yung, minwoo, and hyesung. They're so goofy and silly, and I feel really relaxed with them. Even though the first night I went to the club with them I was just one of the guys (cuz I was dressed like one) it was fun. Although I never really knew eric and junjin real well from high school, they're actually real fun to be around, and it kinda felt like I've been with them for years. I notice that eric seems to be more of the serious one out of the group. He seems like the father/older brother out of the whole group. He does seem like an older brother to me too.

I finally did return back to the dorm, but I spent last night at dongwan and andy's apartment. Andy stayed at eric and junjin's place, so dongwan let me sleep on andy's bed. Dongwan treats me nice. He comforted me when I still felt kinda messed up from last night, when minwoo had confessed to me. I was just so confused and messed up at the time, and if it wasn't dongwan that was driving the car, I think I woulda gotten run over. I guess you can say that dongwan was an angel that appeared outta nowhere…

Hyesung frowned at the last sentence.

hey wussup. I haven't been able to write often in here. Lot of things have happened. One, school's out. yeah, it's been that long. I just finished my finals and I'm outta school now. I'll be going to summer school real soon. I've decided upon the music composition class. I guess I'm giving music a try. After all that debate I've had with myself from before, I've decided to try it out, especially after that talk I had with eric the other night…I still can't believe he heard me sing…

"debate? Debate over what?" hyesung wondered.

two, I've moved out of the dorms and into eric and junjin's apartment. I don't think I can handle living in the dorms now, not with all that's happened. It's hard for me to wake up in the same room with soo yung, the way that I've hurt her. I mean, I didn't intentionally hurt her...I would never want to hurt her. but…even so, I feel horrible and guilty just being here. Actually, before I left the dorms, I noticed that soo yung and hyesung hung out more than usual. I guess I should be happy for the two of them. Soo yung needed someone there for her after her breakup with minwoo...i guess I'm glad that hyesung was there for her, since I couldn't be with her…and besides, hyesung got to be with the girl that he REALLY liked…

what am I saying? I shouldn't say anything. cuz I have dongwan…

hyesung narrowed his eyes. "dongwan…" he continued to read…

soo yung silently walked down the bare hallway. Her footsteps echoed and reverbated through the walls. There were a few other people dressed in white in the same hallway, but the hallway still gave soo yung a solitaire and empty feeling despite the presence of other people.

Soo yung turned to her left and entered a room. she slowly walked to the middle of the room and sat down in the chair that she had been sitting in all night the previous night. she let out a sigh and and stared before her…at the figure that laid in bed.

"please be oki," soo yung whispered. "please be oki."

Kei let herself into the apartment and closed the front door behind her. she walked down the hallway and headed to her room. she suddenly stopped in her tracks. There was some noise coming from the direction of her room. kei's eyes sprang wide open, and she rushed to the room. she threw open the door and gasped.

"hyesung!"

"Fweee-fwhoo!"

the girl with long hair in the car in the next lane turned her head, gave off a nasty glare, and zoomed off past the stop sign.

"andy, for the last time, don't' whistle at girls, especially when I'm with you," eric scolded. He then took a right turn.

"I can't help it. Didn't you think that girl was hot?" andy asked.

"apparently she didn't think you were."

"ahhh, that's not true. She was glaring at YOU, not me. so, she thought it was YOU whistling at her, not me." andy grinned.

Eric rolled his eyes. "how in the world did I ever get to know a fool like you?"

andy shrugged. "you're just lucky I guess."

"yeah sure," eric mumbled.

"hehe, I knew you would agree. Mmm...hey, wanna hear something funny? Dongwan came back from work late last night all weird and stuff. He was walking like a drunk and stuff, but actually, he had hit his head real hard. there's this one chick named sara at his workplace that's been hitting on him. I've seen her before, and whoa. That girl's hot and all, but dang, lay off the makeup, and it must be pretty bad if I'm saying so."

"…heh, it must be real bad then."

"yeah it is. Well anywayz, dongwan was telling me how this girl was trying to rape him or something last night."

"are you serious?" eric asked, a little startled.

"yeah, can you believe that? This sara girl wants dongwan BAD! Real bad! HahahahA!"

"…so what happened? Did she actually…?"

"puhahahahhahaa! What, did she actually 'do it' with him?"

"just answer the question."

"hahhahaaha, aite aite. No she didn't. actually, dongwan was able to fight her off and keep his sacred virginity for himself. Puahahahahaha! It's hilarious I tell you! he just lost a chance for free sex, sex that a girl was gonna willingly give him."

"well, duh, he's not you."

"hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"exactly what it means. And this sara girl dun sound all that appealing to start off with anywayz."

"true dat, true dat. Man, dongwan came back will all this lipstick plastered to his face, it was disgusting. It was all over I tell you. lips, face, neck, and other ahem places."

Eric stared forward at the road before him.

Kei will definitely not like this… eric thought silently to himself.

Kei stood at the doorway of her room, slightly horrified. No…no…

Hyesung stared up at kei from where he sat. he was sitting at her desk before the computer. Music was playing from the computer speakers. The music…

"is this your composition?" hyesung asked, with much effort in speaking.

Kei looked down at the ground. She could feel her face burning. He…he heard my composition…my bad, ugly composition…

For a few moments the only sound to be heard in the room was the composition playing from the computer. Kei continued to stare at the ground, unable to lift her head. She could feel hyesung's eyes on her…but she couldn't bring herself to look up back at him.

Finally, kei spoke. "…i…I told prof. Jo that you won't be able to go to class or discussions for this week. Prof. Jo said oki. He cancelled all the discussions for this week since you won't be instructing them, and he, um, he also extended the deadline for our compositions since you won't be able to help the class…" her voice trailed off.

"your composition is pretty good."

Kei lifted her head up. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"wh…wha…what?" she stammered.

Hyesung slowly pushed himself up from the desk chair. Once he stood upon his two feet, he said, "your composition is good."

Kei was speechless. Within her, she felt suddenly overwhelmed with different emotions at hearing hyesung's compliment. Hyesung's compliment. That is something she rarely hears…

All of the sudden, hyesung keeled over and fell onto the ground. Kei rushed to his side.

"are you oki?" kei asked, very concerned.

Hyesung coughed. "I'm fine," he said. However, kei still helped him up to his feet and to the bed, where she had him sit and lay down. She sat down in the chair.

"you shouldn't be moving around so much. You're still too weak to do so. You should rest more," kei lightly scolded hyesung.

"I'm fine."

"are you hungry now? it's 12:30 now. do you want lunch now?"

hyesung looked up at kei. Kei looked away when she realized that hyesung was staring right into her eyes. Uneasiness suddenly came over her and she looked away.

"kei…" hyesung started to say. "you're unhappy."

"what?" kei asked, surprised. "what…what makes you think that I'm unhappy?"

"…by your music. You're not happy."

"…that's not true…" kei said quietly.

"you're not happy."

"I'm fine."

"something's wrong. You're hurt."

Just then there was the sound of a door slam from outside. Kei looked up.

"eric and junjin must be home now." she then turned and looked at hyesung. "I better go get lunch ready for all of us. I'll be back with your lunch. You're gonna eat lunch in bed…"

hyesung just stared back at kei. This time, kei did not break away from the gaze.

Knock knock.

Kei finally turned away from the gaze and looked to the door. Junjin was standing in the doorway, holding a cordless phone in his hand.

"kei…it's for you," junjin said with a big smile on his face.

Kei looked at junjin, a blank look on her face. "is it dongwan?"

Junjin smiled and nodded.

Kei got up from the chair and walked over to junjin. She looked at junjin as junjin held the phone out to her.

"tell him…that I will never talk to him again." And with that, kei walked away and disappeared into the hall, leaving a very confused and wide-eyed junjin at the doorway. Junjin then went after kei, leaving hyesung by himself in the room. Hyesung just sat in the bed looking towards the computer, the sad melody still playing from the speakers.

Chapter 47

He whistled as he made his way down the street. In his right hand, he held a small envelope. In his other hand, he held a small rose.

He turned around the last corner and walked up to the small store. He let himself in.

"hi uncle, I'm here!" he called out.

raymond ahn peered from behind the door. "oh hey chilhyun, I see that you're here again today." Raymond then returned to fiddling with the camera he held. "but no, soo yung is not here today either."

Kangta frowned. "really? I thought she was supposed to work today."

Raymond shrugged. "she was, but she's nowhere to be found. I've called her all day today and no one answered. I've had to do all the work in the shop today. Luckily there were only 2 clients, or else I woulda died."

Kangta frowned even more. Hmmm…where can she be?

"dongwan, I think you better call another time."

"…I really need to talk to kei, junjin. Please let me talk to her."

"um…I would, but you know…she's the one making lunch now, and I'm really hungry…"

"junjin!"

"yah! I'm sorry! Man, what the heck did you do to make kei this mad?"

"…"

"aish. Hey, why don't you call back a little later. I'll try to persuade kei in talking to you."

"…fine. Please help me out here. I really need to talk to her."

"I'll try, aite? Talk to ya."

"bye."

Dongwan hung up his phone. He raked his hands through his hair.

"argh! How am I gonna get out of this mess?"

junjin entered the dining room and placed the cordless phone back onto its cradle. He looked at eric who was watching kei set up for lunch. Eric eyes followed kei as she walked back and forth between the table and the kitchen counter, setting plates of food down on the table. Eric's eyes also darted back and forth as kei walked back and forth.

Junjin sat down in the chair next to eric. He tapped eric on the shoulder.

"hey…you know what's up with kei?" junjin whispered to eric.

Eric shook his head, his eyes never leaving kei.

Kei finished setting up the table, but she didn't sit down at the table and urge everyone to eat as she usually did. Instead, she walked back to the counter and started making a whole other meal and setting it on a tray. She then looked up and found eric and junjin not eating.

"eat you guys," she softly said as she scooped some rice into a bowl.

"aren't you going to eat?" junjin asked.

Kei looked away and shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"then what's that?" junjin asked, nodding to the tray of food.

"…this is for hyesung," she answered.

"for hyesung? Dude, this dude gets deluxe and complete room service, having lunch in bed and everything? How come I don't get this kinda treatment?" junjin exclaimed.

Kei set a glass of orange juice and picked up the tray. She then walked over to the table and looked at junjin straight in the eye with her own expressionless eyes. Without saying a word, she walked away and disappeared into the hallway. Junjin's jaw dropped open.

"did you see that eric? She just ignored me! she totally ignored me and is now going to baby that heymung guy! What is the world coming to?"

"what's going on? why you so upset?" andy said, coming into the dining room.

"kei's ignoring me!" junjin whined. "she's not eating lunch with us now. instead she's eating lunch with that black-and-blue polka-dotted monster inside her room right now!"

"really?" andy looked and spotted the third plate of food on the table. "well I guess I'll just have to take her lunch now. oh this food smells good! Kei's the best!" he happily sat down at the table, rubbing his hands together in delight. He then dove into the food, while junjin still pouted. Eric sat silent in his seat, a contemplative look on his face.

"I dunno what's up with kei now. ever since that hay-dung guy came in, she's all taking care of him and stuff. She's no fun now. she's not even answering dongwan's calls now."

andy's eyes opened wide, noodles sticking out of his mouth. "she's not?"

"nope. He just called, and she was like…" junjin then narrowed his eyes, imitating the look on kei's face. " 'tell him I will never talk to him again.'"

Andy swallowed his noodles. "oh wow. Dongwan musta really ticked her off to make her mad. I've never seen kei mad before."

"I know! Kei's supposed to be the loving, caring, UNDERSTANDING person around here," junjin said, shouting loud so kei could hear him from inside.

"hmm…poor dongwan. first he has a slut attempts rape on him. now his girlfriend's not talking to him. wonder if those two are connected." Andy shrugged and then wolfed some more noodles into his mouth. Slurp.

"eek. That wouldn't be good. I'd hate to be in dongwan's shoes now," junjin said. He finally picked up his chopsticks and started eating his bowl of ramen.

Eric sat silently in his chair, not eating. Are they connected?

The phone rang…

Hyesung, with much struggling, pulled out his cell phone that was miraculously still intact regardless of the beating he got from kangta. He looked on the screen. No missed calls. Hyesung narrowed his calls and sagged his shoulders in disappointment.

"she didn't call…"

suddenly his phone beeped and the screen went blank. "out of battery," he muttered.

At that moment Kei walked into her room carrying the tray of food. She approached the bed where hyesung was sitting up, looking forward but not particularly at anything. she sat down on the side of the bed and placed the tray across hyesung's lap.

"here's your lunch," kei said. She looked up and found hyesung's eyes on her. she looked away. She placed the tray closer to hyesung, yet hyesung made no motion to eat.

She looked at him again. "why won't you eat?"

"why won't you answer dongwan's calls?"

the question stung kei and she looked away again. "cuz I don't want to."

"why?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"did dongwan hurt you?"

"it's none of your business."

"did dongwan do something to upset you?"

kei snapped her head up. "look, why do you care?"

hyesung looked at her. gazed into her eyes. Emotional eyes.

Beautiful eyes…

"because…I sense that you're hurt."

Kei looked away again, unable to respond to the truth behind what he said. She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes, the images of dongwan and sara on the floor half-naked…

"i…" kei started to say, but didn't finish. She just rose from the bed and walked out of the room. hyesung stared after her figure as she left the room, leaving his food cold and untouched.

Ring ring. Ring ring.

"hello, ahn's photography studio, this is raymond ahn, how can I help you?"

"raymond? It's me, soo yung."

"soo yung! where have you been? I thought that you were only going to be out for one day. And you haven't been answering your phone."

"I'm sorry raymond. Something came up and I haven't been home for the past few days. actually, the reason I called is that I wanted to ask for a few more days off too."

"few days?"

"I know I'm asking for a lot. But is it possible?"

"…you know I wouldn't mind so much to let you off for a few days, but I have a fully booked day on Thursday—"

"oki, I'll be back for Thursday. Just let me have these two days off. Please? It's realy important to me raymond. I promise I will make it up to you when I get back to work."

"hmmm…fine, you can have these next 2 days off. I'll just have my wife grace come in to help me for a few days. just do whatever you have to do in these two days and come back to work on Thursday, got it?"

"got it! Thank you so much raymond!"

"I'll miss ya, hehe."

"hehe, I'll miss you too. I love working at your place."

"heh, and I know for a fact that kangta misses you too. The boy's been coming everyday to look for you."

soo yung made a face. "that's, nice, of him. anywayz, I have to go now."

"see you Thursday, soo yung."

"see you then."

Soo yung placed the pay phone receiver back onto its hook and walked away from the payphone. She walked back into a room and sat back down in the chair.

"now I have two more days to spend with you," she softly said. "please get better within these two days."

"no dongwan, I can't make kei answer the phone. She won't answer it at all, and quite frankly, I'm afraid to talk to her now. I mean, she's totally ignoring me anywayz," junjin replied into the phone.

"come on junjin pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase! I really need your help! Kei's mad at me and I have to talk to her! i…i…I can't…lose…her…" dongwan trailed off, his voice becoming softer. "she…means…a lot…to me…"

"awwwww…….." junjin awed, a single tear forming in his eye. "you're making me cry…"

"I am? Oh, oki then. So can you please get kei on the phone?"

"well…………….no."

"why!"

"because she won't listen to me anywayz."

"argh! Lemme talk to eric then. She listens to eric."

After a few seconds…

"hello?" said a deep voice.

"eric! Please help me! I need to talk to kei!"

"you can't."

"why? Kei will listen to you! if there's anyone she'll listen to, it's you!"

"I'm saying you can't cuz she just left the apartment."

"what! Where's she going?"

"I don't know. She just left without saying where she's going."

"can you catch her? I need to talk to her!"

"…I'll get her…"

"thank you so much! I'll be over at your place in less than 5 minutes!" dongwan slammed the receiver onto its hook and rushed out of his room.

eric calmly placed the phone onto its cradle and walked out of the apartment after kei. Kei hadn't gotten far and eric easily caught up with her.

"kei," eric said, grabbing onto her wrist.

Kei stopped in her tracks and faced eric.

Eric exhaled a breath. "where are you going?" he asked, letting go of her wrist.

"I don't know. For a walk I guess."

"…want me to walk with you?"

"…sure." Kei then turned on her heels and started walking. Eric followed after her.

they walked together in silence. They slowly walked down the street, kei's gaze fixed on the ground that she stepped on. eric had his hands in his pockets and casually walked alongside kei, keeping his eyes on her.

kei then let out a small laugh. "I guess I've been kinda upsetting junjin huh? Gosh, he looks so funny when he's annoyed. You see his face when he's whining? He really looks like a little boy, huh?" kei rambled without looking up. "I don't know. Junjin can be kinda childish at times…some times…a lot of the time…but he's cute that way I guess…"

"I guess…" eric mumbled in agreement.

Kei became silent again. In her mind, she was actually expecting eric to ask what happened with her and dongwan. however, he didn't.

I should have known, kei thought to herself. Eric hardly ever asked about what was bothering her. he never asked. What usually happened was that she would spill whatever was on her mind without him having to ask. Whatever she didn't want to mention, eric never pried. Kei knew that it wasn't because eric was inconsiderate in any way. Eric was actually respecting her privacy…something she found very comforting and relieving compared to everyone else. Dongwan had always asked her what was wrong when she was upset, and she was happy for his concern. But at times, kei didn't want anyone to ask her questions or tell anyone why she was upset. Questions would just upset her even more. Dongwan would ask until he forced it out of kei. Eric did the exact opposite. He just left her alone to her own thoughts, but stood nearby to make her acknowledge his presence and to let her know that he would be there for her. that was one quality that kei admired of eric, a quality that she always found comfort in when she was upset around eric.

Kei stopped walking, and eric also stopped.

"how do you do it?"

"… do what?"

kei looked up at eric. "just stand there."

Eric looked at kei with a confused look. "I don't understand."

Kei sighed. "never mind. Anywayz, I wasn't feeling too great just a few moments ago, but…i…I feel better now. I'm not that upset now."

"you aren't?"

Kei shook her head. "no, I'm not."

"… that's good to hear."

Kei then let out another small laugh and shook her head again. "I half-expected you to ask me just now why I was upset in the first place, but I shoulda known that you wouldn't."

eric just stared back at her.

Kei turned and faced away from him. "because I end up spilling all my heart to you anywayz without you having to ask. I guess you don't need to."

Eric stared at the kei's back, her long silky dark hair tied up into a simple ponytail, her shoulders relaxed, and her hands held behind her. eric pursed his lips, cotemplating. He then walked up to her and took her hand. Kei turned around and looked at eric.

"come with me," eric simply said. He then started walking, leading kei by the hand.

Hyesung's eyes widened. "what the? Dongwan was getting freaky with another girl at his workplace?" he asked, shocked as he read the latest entry in kei's diary. "but …how could he? I thought dongwan liked kei…and kei liked hi—" hyesung cut himself off. What was anger that he had just felt was now guilt and blame.

She liked me, hyesung told himself. All that time, she liked me. why? I don't get it. I was so mean to her, calling her fat and ugly…even though I didn't whole-heartedly mean it, I just called her names anywayz. I don't even know why I called her names…but she still…liked…me. but she stopped. She went to dongwan. dongwan was, like she said, 'an angel' that appeared out of nowhere. He was there for her when she was shunned out…chewed out…stomped upon…by me… no surprise. If…if I were in her shoes…I wouldn't like me either…

Hyesung continued to read the diary. And as if his eyes weren't wide already, his eyes became even wider and he dropped the diary to the ground…

Eric finally let go of kei's hand. He had led her to a part of the park where kei seldom went. Far from the pond that she usually went to, eric brought her to a part of the park where there were many trees, almost like an actual forest. Eric started to walk forward and kei slowly followed behind him.

Eric finally stopped in his tracks, before a small tree. He then turned around, sat down on the grass and leaned against the tree. He looked up at kei and motioned for her to sit too. Kei sat down next to eric, looking at eric with curious eyes.

Eric lifted his face to the sky, closed his eyes, and let out a big sigh. He sat there for a moment, motionless. Kei didn't say a word, for she was admiring the peaceful image that eric had at the moment. One sound may destroy the serenity of it.

Eric finally opened his eyes and he looked at kei.

"this is where I go when I need to calm down, to relax," he said in a low voice.

"it's real pretty," kei said, looking around at the trees. "in all the times I've been to this park, I've never been to this part of the park before."

"not as many people walk through here," eric said. "I like it that way. That's why I come here all the time when I'm stressed or depressed."

Kei looked at eric, amused. "you, stressed or depressed?"

eric smiled. "why, you think I'm never stressed or depressed?"

kei smiled back. "actually no you don't. you always seem like you have things under control and everything."

Eric let out a little laugh and shook his head. "I wish. I wish I had control over things…like…like…my sister's death…"

The smile from kei's face disappeared and she fell dead silent.

Eric closed his eyes. "I was never close to my parents. I was pretty much raised by my older sister. She seemd to be the only blood I had left in the world…until…something called cancer took her away."

"uhh…I'm sorry…"

Eric shook his head. "you know, if there's one thing that I ever want to be, I want to be a surgeon. To cure cancer, to help patients with cancer."

"why don't you try to become one?"

Eric shook his head and laughed again. "not when I flunked out of chemistry."

"oh. Hehe."

"no, I think I'll just stick to what I have now."

kei looked up at eric. "I never really knew what you do plan to be."

Eric looked at kei. He smiled. "what I've been doing with junjin and andy all along."

"start up a dance group?"

"yeah. My folks don't like the idea. Especially after my sister died, they think that I'm a useless piece of trash. They think that starting a dance group is a joke. Screw them. The three of us like to rap too. I would say we can sing, but that's just straight dishonest of me to say."

Kei smiled. "hey, I've never really heard the three of you guys sing. Mebbe together you guys will sing pretty well."

Eric shook his head. He looked up at kei. "I guess now that I look back on my life now, and it's nowhere near being the perfect fairy tale-like life."

Kei sighed. "I don't think any of us lead fairy tale-like lives. Especially me…mine can be considered more of as a soap opera." She laid her back down on the grass and stared up at the sky. She placed her hands behind her head. "I led a very boring life. I was never the center of attention for anything. I was never really good at anything, and no one ever thought of me much of anything. I was the type of person to be on the sidelines, not the one to be in a part of the show. So when the spotlight's on me, I don't handle it very well. And right now with dongwan and hyesung, I—" kei cut herself off when she realized she had just mentioned hyesung's name. She looked over to eric and saw him looking at her. she looked into his eyes.

He doesn't even have to ask, and I would tell him what's on my mind. Kei then looked back up at the sky and sighed.

"i…I didn't answer dongwan's call today because… because last night…i…"

"you saw him and sara?"

kei looked over to eric. "how…how'd u know?"

eric shrugged. "andy mentioned it."

Kei looked back up at the sky. Images of dongwan and sara popped up and she couldn't help but let her eyes moisten. "yes…I saw them…and…it hurts…to see him…with…another girl…"

"……andy mentioned that it was against his will. That dongwan wasn't totally conscious when sara was making a move on him. dongwan hit his head or something…….so…he can't be held totally responsible for what happened…"

kei closed her eyes.

Eric continued to defend dongwan. "I didn't get to know dongwan real well until you moved into the apartment, but I know this much about him…that he really cares for you and he would never want to hurt you…"

"but I can't bear talking to him again…"

"why not?"

"because…of something I did…"

eric looked at kei with confused eyes.

Finally, tears were released from kei's eyes and they slid down her cheeks. "the reason why I can't bear to talk to dongwan isn't because of him and sara, but because of…"

Hyesung brought his fingers up to his lips. "……kei kissed me…"

Chapter 48

Hyesung thought back to his dream. The strange kiss…

"kei had kissed me…that kiss in the dream…was…real…" hyesung looked back to the diary…

I don't know what drove me to do it. Seeing dongwan and another girl on the floor in his boss's office upset me, but I don't know what exactly drove me to rush all the way back to my room and kiss hyesung when he was still sleeping. The force seemed hidden within me and it seemed to surface right at that moment…like…it was something that I had longed to do… something that I knew was wrong to do but had wanted to do…desired to do… ached to do… something that was wrong but felt right to do… as if I wasn't cheating and lying to myself anymore…

"so you kissed hyesung and now you feel as if you're not worth of talking to dongwan?" eric asked.

Kei kept her eyes closed. She gave a slight nod. "he may have done something disloyal to me, but it was against his will. I on the other hand went and did something disloyal to him, not…totally…against my will."

"I don't think dongwan can really say anything for what you did anywayz. He would understand…"

kei shook her head. "I know it sounds kinda silly…but…but…it's not silly…because…I don't know…if…I don't know my feelings now… I don't know…if I really deserve to have dongwan with me…when I don't even know if I can return all care and feelings he gives me…"

"you like that hyesung guy, don't you?"

kei looked up at eric and stared into his eyes for a brief second. She then turned away and laughed.

"surprised? I know…I would be too if I were you. how can I like someone like hyesung who's so mean to me? I don't even know why myself…but…I do…you must think I'm horrible now, huh?

"no."

"don't try to comfort me."

"I'm not trying to comfort you…I said no cuz I know how you feel…"

kei looked at eric. Eric stared back into eric's eyes.

Eric's eyes didn't seem to blink once. "I once liked a girl that didn't like me back…even when I knew that there was someone else that coulda returned my feelings…"

Kei looked at eric with confused eyes. The only girl that eric liked was yoojin…

As if eric was reading her mind, he nodded. "yes, I had loved yoojin even though I knew that she liked minwoo. But I still liked her, even when there was another girl I coulda gone for who probably would have liked me back."

Kei caught herself before she asked, but she saw eric smile. "I know you want to know who the girl was. Actually…" eric leaned against the tree again and looked up at the sky. "…you know her…"

Kei gave a mildly shocked look. "I do?"

Eric nodded. "yeah…while I tried to do whatever I could for yoojin…bada did the same for me…"

Kei's eyes widened. Bada!

Dongwan ran up to the door and started banging on it.

BANG BANG BANG!

"sheesh, don't need to knock the door down to see me—dongwan!" junjin said as he opened the door.

"where's kei? Did she come back yet?"

"no. didn't we tell you over the phone? Kei left the apartment."

"that was two hours ago! She's not back yet?" dongwan cried.

Junjin grimaced at dongwan's loud voice. "eesh. Don't worry, eric went after her. he's probably with her now."

Dongwan let out a sigh. "gosh…I can't believe this is happening. This is all my stupid fault…" he mumbled to himself.

Junjin scrunched his eyes at dongwan. "here buddy. Why don't you come in and wait for them to come back? You can catch kei when she gets back then."

Dongwan looked up at junjin. "thanks man." He stepped into the apartment and junjin closed the door behind them.

"bada knew that I liked yoojin, and she never encouraged or discouraged the fact. She just acknowledged it. She actually became a constant companion to me. I mean, at the time, all I wished for was to be with yoojin, but I never pushed bada away. Bada even tried to help me help yoojin too, especially during the few days before yoojin…" eric cut himself off before he finished his sentence. Kei, however, knew exactly what he was going to say and became sad.

Eric continued. "I look back now, and I realize how much bada's helped me. when yoojin died, bada was the one who stood by me. when my sister died during my junior year, bada was the one who actually comforted me. when I was having problems with my folks about college and my future, bada was there to hear out my complaining. She's actually the only person other than my sister that I turned to with my problems. I don't even tell junjin my problems now, and I still don't…"

"wow. I'm surprised you never considered bada as more than a friend."

eric shook his head. "call me stubborn and narrow-minded. Like I've told you before, the only person that I've ever liked is yoojin. besides, why would bada like me? I was a pathetic loser in her eyes. And she never said anything."

"where is bada now anyways?"

eric sighed. "once we all graduated high school, she told me that she was moving to japan. I haven't heard from her since." Eric then let out another sigh.

Kei heard the sigh and asked her next question. "so…what do you think now of bada?"

Eric closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree. "I don't know, but… i…I guess I miss her…"

"you miss her?"

"… it's hard to tell or say really… I mean…I think about her from time to time…but… recently…her face's been popping up more and more…"

"I see…I guess bada means more to you than you realized…"

"I guess…" eric smiled. "you know…" he opened his eyes and looked at kei. "bada was the one who showed me this spot in the park, this tree."

Kei smiled. "that's real sweet of her."

"it was her fav spot to veg out. now it's mine. Bada and I were the only ones who knew about this spot…and now you do too… even junjin doesn't know about this spot."

Kei let out a small laugh and wiped her wet face. "I feel so honored." She then turned to face eric again, but something caught her eye. She looked to the root of the tree, right beside eric's hip. She inched closer to the tree to get a closer look… eric noticed that kei was looking at something and turned to where she was gazing at. He looked to the spot that kei was looking at.

"what is that…?" kei asked.

Eric's eyes widened. "oh my gosh…"

There was a small carving on the tree.

BADA

LUVS

ERIC

012

the closed yellow notebook rested upon his lap. Hyesung was staring at the computer screen, a screensaver playing upon its screen. He was dumbfounded by the last entry that he read…

BANG BANG BANG!

Hyesung turned his face towards the open bedroom door when he heard noises coming from outside the open bedroom door, apparently from the living room. After some muffled voices, hyesung heard the front door close and the voices were clearer.

"what in the world did you do fool? How in the world did you get kei so mad at you?" hyesung clearly heard junjin's voice say. Hyesung's ears perked up.

"dongwan…" hyesung said to himself.

"please…I don't want to talk about it now. I just want to talk to kei," dongwan's voice said.

Hyesung narrowed his eyes at hearing dongwan's voice.

"dongwan, what in the world happened man?" junjin asked.

"sigh…it's a long story…last night I—"

"last night? wait, weren't you getting raped by a girl?"

"what! Raped! Who told you that?"

"andy. He's in the kitchen now. so it isn't true then?"

"no! well, not really…not to the extent of rape…"

"oki, so I may have exaggerated a lil bit…so what's the big deal? You didn't do anything with the girl did you…or should I say, she didn't do anything to you, right?"

"no…ugh…I feel so disgusted and violated."

"um…I'm sure you do…so why do you need to talk to kei? You want to tell her that some girl was getting fresh with you?"

"……I'm afraid kei might already know…"

"what! how?"

"I was called in by the boss today in his office, and he told me to never leave food in his office ever again. But there was no food in the room last night, from what I recollect."

"that other girl didn't bring food?"

dongwan shook his head. "having dinner in the office was obviously not on her mind…"

"I see…so what are you going to do?"

"I don't know…all I know is that I HAVE to talk to kei, no matter what."

"……" junjin didn't know what to say.

"wow, it's been more than two hours," kei said as she looked at her watch. The sun had already made its way down the horizon and the sky was now an orangish glow.

"yeah. Want to head back now?" eric asked.

Kei nodded her head. She then smiled. "you know…this may become MY favorite spot to relax too. I feel so much better now."

eric smiled at kei. "thought I'd share it with ya. Since you always spill your feelings to me, thought it ought to have been my turn this time. Now you know my pathetic life story."

Kei shook her head. "your life story's not pathetic. I'm actually glad that I now know about my good buddy's past. Besides, you know mine too, and not many other people know about mine."

Eric smiled. "I should be honored. Not many people know about my past either."

Kei nodded. "it's an exchange."

Eric nodded his head to the side. "let's go."

Kei nodded in agreement. "let's go."

They got up and walked home…

They reached the apartment and just as they came within a close distance, kei stopped in her tracks. Eric looked up and saw that she was staring at a car parked on the street. Dongwan's car. Eric reached over and squeezed her arm to show her that he was there. "you aite?" he simply asked.

Kei looked at eric. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She then followed eric to the apartment door.

Eric slowly opened the apartment door and let himself into the apartment, lightly dragging kei behind him. junjin looked up from his magazine and stood up when he saw eric and kei.

"gosh junjin, I told you to stop buying those dumb porn magazines, especially since kei lives with us now," eric said.

"huh? Oh, this, uh, haha," junjin said sheepishly, hiding the magazine behind his back. "ummm…this isn't mine…yeah…"

eric gave him a look. Despite being nervous, kei smiled at junjin's sheepish look.

Andy came into the living room. "what's going on here? Hey you guys are back."

"you're still here andy?" eric asked.

"yeah. Dongwa—" andy cut himself off and looked at kei. Kei looked away when she heard dongwan's name. "—ahem. Uh…dongwan's, uh, here, and I thought I would just catch a ride back to the dorm with him when he's, uh…when he's done…" andy said in a very soft voice.

kei suddenly felt all pairs of eyes upon her and grew uncomfortable. "I'm…I'm gonna go to my room." she then started for her room, wanting to avoid the stares and to avoid seeing dongwan.

no such luck. Right before she reached her room, someone came out of the bathroom and bumped into her.

"oof! I'm sor—kei!"

kei looked up with wide eyes and found dongwan standing right before her. she tried to move before dongwan could say anything, but dongwan caught her by the shoulders.

"kei, don't leave me," dongwan said. Kei stood where she was not moving and not looking at dongwan.

"kei, please believe me. nothing happened last night in the office with sara. I can swear to you. I had hit my head and I wasn't totally conscious when sara was… well…umm…but, I'm sorry that you had to see what you did…but nothing happened! I wasn't a willing party in what was happening! Please don't be mad at me!"

kei didn't respond. Dongwan slid his hands down and held her hands. He pulled her a little closer.

"please kei. Please don't be mad at me. I'll be sure it never happens again, never to upset you again. Just don't be mad at me, don't ignore me…I don't want soemthing like this to ruin our relationship…"

kei still didn't utter a word.

"kei…"

"…"

"kei…"

"…"

"ke—"

THUD! There was a loud noise coming from kei's room.

Kei's eyes shot wide open. Hyesung! She rushed into the room and found hyesung sprawled face down on the ground.

"hyesung," she called as she ran to his side. She reached under his arms and tried to pull him up off his face. kei pulled hyesung up so that he was sitting up on the floor. She let him lean against the side of the bed. "are you oki? What happened? Why'd you fall off the bed?"

hyesung was still grimacing in pain and didn't answer kei's questions.

"you should be more careful. Don't try to move so much, you're still hurt. Don't scare me like that. See, your lip's bleeding now." kei got up and got a tissue from her desk. She knelt back down beside hyesung and started wiping the blood on hyesung's bottom lip…

"kei…" a voice from the doorway whispered. Kei stopped wiping hyesung's lip and looked down at the ground. Soon, she heard soft thudded footsteps going away from the room, followed by the front door slamming shut a few seconds later. A silent tear crept out of her right eye…

"I'm sorry dongwan…" kei softly whispered.

Chapter 49

Eric slowly walked down the hallway and approached the open door. He peered in and saw hyesung leaning against the side of the bed and kei sitting next to him on the floor. He stood there and watched the two, not uttering a word. After a few moments, he turned around and started to walk away, but he bumped into something, or actually someone…

"ow!" andy cried. andy stumbled backwards into junjin who also stumbled.

Eric just looked at them. Andy and junjin looked up at eric and they both immediately looked away with sheepish and embarrassed looks for trying to spy on kei and hyesung. They then hurriedly scurried away. Eric sighed. He took one more glance over his shoulder into kei's room, and then he also walked away.

Kei sat in the same position not moving. The only apparent movement was the tear that was sliding down her cheek.

Hyesung looked towards kei. He stared at her solemn unmoving face. the dim moonlight that was coming in through the window reflected off of something on her face, giving off a little glint. The tear. Even though his arm was sore, hyesung made a conscious effort to restrain his arm…

…from wiping her tear away…

once the tear had slowly made its way all the way down her cheek, kei wiped her jawline, wiping the tear away, and turned her face in hyesung's direction.

"are…are you oki?" she softly asked.

"…are you oki?" hyesung asked after a long pause.

Kei didn't answer. She continued to sit in her position and stare off into space, as if something on the side of bed was of great interest. She then turned her gaze back to hyesung.

"let's…let's get you back onto the bed…"

"you haven't answered me yet."

"…I don't need to answer you."

"yes you do. I won't get back onto the bed if you don't."

"I'm fine, you happy now? now get onto the bed."

"liar."

Kei shot a glare at hyesung. "look, what do you want me to say? 'no, I'm not, I'm a pathetic fool, I feel like a mess, now you can laugh at me all you want.' Is that what you want me to say?"

"…" hyesung was silent and slightly surprised at kei's outburst. She rarely talked back like so.

Kei stood up. "if you don't want to get onto the bed, fine. I'll just leave you here." She started out for the door, but she felt something pull her leg. She turned around. Hyesung was lightly holding onto her leg, holding her back from leaving.

"please…help me onto the bed…" he softly said.

Kei showed no change in her facial expression. She simply knelt back down beside hyesung, threw one of his arms around her shoulders and wrapped her arm around him. she slowly hoisted him up back onto the bed and started to tuck him in. but hyesung didn't lay down on the bed. He remained sitting straight up. Kei looked at him.

"aren't you going to lay down?" kei asked.

"when did you become so assertive?" hyesung asked.

Kei eyes hyesung. "what?"

"when did you become so assertive?"

"what are you talking about? I'm just asking you to get onto the bed to rest."

Hyesung looked up at kei's eyes, which were staring back at him with a mixture of frustration and confusion within them.

The beautiful eyes…

"I don't want to rest now."

kei's eyes widened.

"I want to get some fresh air. Can you take me outside to get some fresh air?"

kei stared at hyesung in the eyes. Hyesung stared back at her, his eyes asking, if not ordering kei to succumb to his request. Communication between their eyes…

kei didn't say a word. She slowly wrapped hyesung's arm around her shoulder again and hoisted him up. Once she gained a good grip on him so he wouldn't fall, she walked him out of the room and towards the living room to the front door.

Andy and junjin were sitting on the living room couch when they spotted hyesung and kei coming out of the hallway.

"hey, where are you guys going?" junjin asked.

Kei continued to help hyesung walk through the living room. "out," she simply replied. She then opened the front door and helped hyesung through the door. The door shut close.

Junjin looked at andy and they exchanged confused and curious glances at each other.

"don't you guys even think about it," a voice said from the direction of the kitchen. Junjin and andy turned around to find eric standing in the kitchen entrance looking at them with the 'move and die' look. Junjin and andy let out disappointed sighs.

"no fun," andy complained.

After they got of the elevator, kei led hyesung through a door and a blast of cold air hit them as soon as the door was open. Hyesung lifted his head and found himself surrounded by a dark blue sky. They were on the roof of the apartment.

Kei helped him towards the ledge and then helped him down so he could sit on the roof ground. Kei herself then sat next to hyesung.

Kei looked up at the night sky. The sun had set about an hour ago and the sky was turning from the orangish glow to a dark navy blue color. Random stars began to light up in the sky. Kei breathed in the cold air.

Hyesung turned his head slightly to his side and looked at kei as she stared out at the night sky. He himself started to breathe in the cold night air.

"feel better?" kei said.

"yeah…" hyesung mumbled.

"I guess staying cooped up in the room all day gets to you. fresh air's a good idea," kei said, her eyes still on the sky.

They were silent as they both looked up at the sky.

Kei looked up at the night sky. It was a clear sky and stars were sparkling brightly in the skies. Kei laid down beside hyesung and looked up at the stars. She scanned the sky until she found 'it.' "yoojin…" she whispered.

"hmmm?" hyesung questioned. Kei turned her face and saw hyesung open his eyes. "what did you say?"

"oh, nothing," kei said in a sad tone.

Hyesung eyes traveled up to the sky. "the sky is beautiful tonight."

Kei nodded in agreement. "yes, it is."

"ugh…everything's blurry now. Headache."

Kei got up from her spot and scooted behind hyesung. "here," she said. She took hyesung's head into her hands and placed it on her lap. She then took her fingers, placed them on his temples, and started to rotate her fingers in circles. After a few seconds, kei asked, "feeling better?"

"mmmmm…" was the answer she got.

"why kei?"

kei looked hyesung.

"why did you help me?"

"…because…"

"because why?"

kei looked away. "…I had to…I couldn't have just left you there when you were so hurt...what'd you expect me to do? Leave you out there like that?"

they became silent. Another gush of wind blew and kei shivered.

"…I'm sorry…" hyesung mumbled.

Kei turned to hyesung. "what?" she asked.

"I'm sorry for everything."

Kei looked at hyesung weird. "what are you talking about?"

"for calling you those names. For yelling at you for minwoo and soo yung's breakup. For all that I've done…when all you've done is help me, save me when I was half-dead."

Kei kept her eyes on the stars. "we're…friends…of course I have to help you…"

"it doesn't matter. As long as you're my friend, I will help you…" kei said softly.

"I know that it's not just…" hyesung trailed off. He didn't want to say too much. He looked at the expression on kei's face and knew to keep his mouth shut. Kei's face overall didn't emit any particular emotion. Her eyes did. In her eyes, hyesung saw a combination of various emotions ranging from hurt to sadness. "…just… nothing…just…thank you…"

kei shook her head and continued to look at the stars.

"I had a dream last night."

kei finally turned her face and looked at hyesung.

"I had a dream…where I saw soo yung in a forest…dressed in white…looked real angelic…and she disappeared…I then saw her and dongwan back at high school… happy…and then they disappeared…and then I saw her and minwoo…happy…and they disappeared…she just kept doing a disappearing act…and then…" hyesung raised his eyes up to kei's. "…I felt someone kiss me…"

instinct told kei to look away but she somehow could not tear her eyes away from hyesung's eyes. The swelling around both eyes had gone down but they were still puffy and dark. However, kei didn't see a pair of beaten and swollen eyes. She saw a pair of eyes with something to say, to tell, to confess…

"…and that someone…was not soo yung…"

kei's eyes slowly shifted from hyesung's eyes to his small lips. His lips were now inching closer and closer to hers…

alarms rang in her head and her heartbeat raced. This is not right, this is not right, this is wrong, her conscience told her. you can't do this kei, you shouldn't. it's not right. There will be consequences…consequences…

yet her body disobeyed her mind and she lowered her eyelids and slightly parted her lips. Soon, a warm surface brushed upon her lips. There was a rough spot on hyesungs lips where it was bleeding from before, but regardless, kei found his lips to be soft. They shared a soft kiss, a small connection between their two bodies. The connection was soon broken apart when kei suddenly broke away.

"no…" she muttered to herself, a fresh batch of tears springing up in her eyes. "no, no…"

hyesung lowered his gaze, half surprised at what he just did. His act took a while to register in his brain, and he also found himself in a mess of emotions like kei. However, one stood out to him…

…it felt so right…

hyesung looked up at kei who was now crying her eyes out. hyesung subconsciously felt his own heart being torn to pieces when he saw her tears. He felt the need to wipe them away for her, but he didn't, for he knew he would upset kei…

"kei…"

kei shook her head. She then hastily wiped her face with the back of her hands. "i…I think we should get back to the apartment," she said in a wavering voice. "i… I'm tired and weak now…I think I'm going to get eric to help you get back." Without waiting for hyesung to consent, she stood up and walked away, leaving through the door that led to the roof.

Hyesung sat there, staring at the closed door. A light wind blew through the night air, causing a few of his bangs to caress his face. he slowly closed his eyes and raised his face up to the sky.

"my god, what is happening to me?"

"grumble…grumble…" junjin muttered as he plopped down on the living room couch with a blanket and pillow. "I can't believe I have to sleep out here again tonight."

Eric looked over at junjin from where he sat on the recliner. "you're not the only one."

"hmph. Ever since that 'hi-strung' guy came here, he's been nothing but trouble. Why in the world is kei keeping him here? Doesn't he belong somewhere like in the hospital or something?"

"kei mentioned to me that hyesung said he didn't want to go to the hospital for some reason.

"yeah, cuz he wants all the attention that kei gives him. he's hogging her to himself."

"just shut up and go to sleep junjin."

"hmmm…I wonder about dongwan…mebbe andy would know! I'm gonna call andy now!"

"junjin," eric said in a firm tone, but junjin ignored him. he picked up the phone and punched a few numbers. After a few seconds, his face brightened.

"andy! Buddy! Pal! What's up?…What makes you think that I called to just get the scoop on dongwan? do I sound like that kinda person? But seriously…what is up with dongwan?…uh huh…oh…oh that sux…oki then, I'll talk to you later then, aite? Late." Junjin hung up the phone. He looked up at eric, who was staring at the TV. An infommerical for a juice maker was on.

junjin shook his head. "no luck. Dongwan was too upset to tell andy any juicy details. Oh well. Andy said that he would try to pry it out from him later."

"that's nice," eric said unemotionally.

"dude, don't try to act like you're all uninterested and everything. I know very well that you want to know about all the gossip as much as I do. Like why kei asked you to help that 'hap-lung' guy back to the room instead of doing so herself. You think something went on up there on the roof?"

Eric finally turned his gaze to junjin. "you know junjin, you sound more and more like a nosy old woman more and more everyday."

Junjin grinned. "why thank you. but I don't think I'm ready to dye my hair grey yet," he said as he ran his hair through his long highlighted hair. "I'm thinking of shaving all my hair off though."

Eric looked at junjin. "you for real? I thought you liked having long hair."

Junjin shrugged. "time for a change of image I guess."

"when you going to cut it?"

"I was thinking of going tomorrow."

"cool."

Junjin looked at the clock on the wall. "eek! It's late! Appointment's at 10am tomorrow morning. I guess I'll go sleep on this wonderfully-comfy-and-warm couch now." junjin grumbled a little more and looked in the direction of his room.

"you're going to the salon to do it? Can't you just shave it yourself?"

"I'm gonna bleach it too. I don't wanna do that myself."

"fine whatever."

"nite eric." With that junjin laid down and went to sleep.

Eric clicked the TV off and then adjusted the recliner so he could go to sleep. As he laid his head down, he thought back to when kei was asking him to help hyesung down from the roof. Kei rushed back into eric and junjin's room, where she was staying, right after making the request. Although kei tried to hide it, eric still saw the tears.

What in the world is going on? the real question is, what is going to happen?

The next morning, 9am…

Kangta walked out of the office. "oki dad. I'm gonna go now."

"alrighty son. Tell mom that I'll be home late for dinner," the man behind the desk said.

"alright, bye dad." Kangta closed the door behind him and started walking down the bare white halls.

"good morning mr. Ahn, come to visit Dr. ahn today?" a lady dressed in a white uniform friendly asks.

Kangta nodded. "yeah, Dad wanted me to pick up something from him and run an errand for him."

The lady smiled. "that's so filial of you, especially coming here so early in the morning. I wish I had such a good and handsome son like you. heck, if I were 20 years younger, I'd be chasing after you myself."

Kangta laughed. "I'm flattered by your comment, mrs. Jang."

Mrs. Jang chuckled. "well, better go check up on my patients. You have a good day chilhyun."

Kangta waved as mrs. Jang trotted away down the white hallway. He then shook his head. "pathetic," he muttered under his breath. He then turned around and started heading the opposite direction. He took one step and stopped. A girl figure had just walked out of a hospital room and was hurrying down the hall. kangta blinked. "…soo yung…?" he started to hurry down the hall and rushed to the elevator, but the doors shut on him. he then ran to the stairs and hurried down the stairs as fast as he could. By the time he reached the first level, the elevator was already being filled by another group of people. Kangta looked around the lobby and rushed to the main entrance. However, there was no sign of the girl.

"hmmm…was that soo yung? if it was, what's she doing at the hospital?"

"junjin, you're going to shave your head off. Why are you still grooming yourself?" eric asked as he watched his friend comb his hair countless times.

"eric eric eric. You have to understand that at a salon, it's not just about cutting hair. The thing is, who's doing the cutting? A salon lady of course. And what happens if this lady is some foine chick? Then I HAVE to look my best. I can't just go with a mess on my head and tell her…" junjin pointed to his hair with a frown on his face, " 'hey, you cut this off.' No no no. my hair has to be nice and beautiful for her to touch so she will enjoy touching it and feeling it—"

"and buzzing it all off so all you have left instead of your 'beautiful' hair are short stubby hair sticking out. you're getting late. It's almost 8 o'clock dude. I have other stuff to do then to wait around and watch you get your hair cut."

"sigh. This is what happens when I don't have a car, eric. You're stuck being my chauffeur."

"yeah yeah, well hurry up."

"where are you guys going?"

junjin and eric turned and found kei walking towards the bathroom door where they stood.

"I'm taking junjin to get his hair cut," eric said.

"……can…can I come?" kei asked.

Junjin looked at kei. "good, you can accompany grumpy eric here then."

"you don't have to go, kei," eric said. "I was just going to drop junjin off and come back for him."

kei shook her head. "…i…I want to get my hair cut too…"

chapter 50

"I don't see why you want to cut your hair," junjin said as he stepped out of the car and slammed the car door shut.

Kei and eric also climbed out of the car and shut their doors. They all walked up to the salon and let themselves into the small store.

"i…I want a change, do something new," kei said.

"but your hair's so nice and long and dark. You said you wanted to get some highlights too?" junjin said.

"yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"nothing. Just that now you won't look like the quiet innocent kei anymore. you'll look so much more ghetto."

"junjin, if I remember correctly, half the girls you hit on have short hair and just about all of them have dyed hair," eric said.

Junjin grinned. "yeah, but that's different though." He draped one arm over kei's shoulder and squeezed. "this is our KEI here. She's not supposed to be like the girls that I hit on. she's much more special than that."

Kei rolled her eyes. "sure."

They all walked up to the front counter. It was a glass counter that had many different shades of nail polish within. Kei never saw so many different shades of red in her life…

"hi, I had an appointment at 10 with sandy," junjin said.

A middle-aged lady looked up from the the magazine she had before her. "oh, sandy's not in yet. If you would like to wait a few minutes, sandy should be here."

"oki." Junjin then went to the chairs set up in next to the front door and sat down.

"excuse me, I would like to have my hair cut and highlighted," kei asked the same lady.

The lady looked up at kei. "oki, what's your name?"

"kei."

"oki. We will call you when one of our people are ready for you."

"thank you." kei and eric then walked over to where junjin sat.

"what's wrong with you? why are you so happy?" eric asked junjin.

"sandy…what a beautiful name…" junjin said dreamily.

Eric rolled his eyes as he sat down on the other side of kei. Kei sat quietly in her seat, her hands placed neatly on her laps and her eyes staring forward.

A change…a new look…a new life…

A caucasian man walked into the shop and waltzed past the waiting room to within the store.

"hey man, you see that? That dude just walked in here and cut us all in line!" junjin mumbled angrily.

"just chill junjin. Don't worry about it," kei said.

"grr… sandy better hurry up. I spent a long time fixing my hair for her to cut."

"you're so silly junjin," kei said. "it's going to be all cut anywayz."

"don't bother, kei, he won't listen," eric said.

"junjin!" a voice called.

All three looked up. They all saw that it was the caucasian man that had called junjin's name.

"what?" junjin said.

The man gave junjin an amused look. "don't you want your haircut?"

"yeah, but I'm waiting for sandy."

The man chuckled. "I am sandy. I will be the one cutting your hair."

Junjin could feel his jaw drop to the ground. A breeze blew in through the front door and a soft bang, one he had agonized over in getting to be perfect, whisked across his forehead…

Soo yung walked back down the same hallway in a clean outfit of clothes. She had gone back to her dorm to take a quick shower. She then rushed to go buy some fruits. She only hoped that he would be awake…

She stepped through the door and suddenly the fruits fell to the ground.

"oh…my…god…"

kei walked out of the salon, her newly cut and highlighted hair blowing in the air. The weight upon her head was now much lighter and the smell of the dye still lingered in her nose. But she didn't take note of the smell. Instead, a new emotion resided within her…

I feel like a new person now…this feels like a new start…a new beginning…

"junjin, what are you still grumbling about? From what I think, as long as he does a good job on your hair, it's all good," eric said.

"I'm mad because I get stuck with gay white guy that has sandy as his name! What kind of name is 'sandy' for a guy? Ugh! How come kei got a foine chick to do her hair and I got a white guy! Ooh I'm mad!" he furiously rubbed his head, raking through his now short blonde hair.

"you're just not destined with beautiful women. Mebbe you should just give it up," eric said.

"grrrr…."

The three got into the car and rode back home, As One's 'chun man e yo' playing from the radio.

"sigh. If only I got my hands on crystal or minkyung, then I'd die a happy man," junjin said. "crystal…minkyung…what beautiful names…"

eric let out an irritated groan. Kei shook her head and smiled. "junjin, you're a hopeless cause."

Junjin turned around in the passenger seat and looked at kei. "that's what they all say about me. oh well. So kei…how you like your new 'do?"

Kei smiled. "I like it. I haven't cut my hair for a long time, and this is the first time I've dyed it."

Junjin smiled and nodded in agreement. "you look very nice. Not as innocent anymore, but so much more mature. If I didn't know any better, I'd make a move on you now."

"that's very flattering junjin. I like your hair too…even if it was a guy that cut and bleached it instead of a pretty lady."

Junjin grred. "oh well. I guess that sandy guy did do a good job."

Kei smiled and looked out the window.

A new beginning…

Soo yung rushed over to the bed. "you're…you're really awake…"

"wha…what happened?"

"you…you collapsed in the dorm hallway. You scared me to death!"

"where am I?"

"you're in the hospital now. it's been almost 3 days now."

"hospital? Three days? how did I end up here?"

"I don't know…the doctor said that your body's over-exhausted. What have you been doing to your body? what have you been doing to make yourself come to this?" soo yung was close to tears.

"shhh…it's oki…it's oki…I'm oki…"

soo yung rubbed at her wet eyes and took in a deep breath. "I'm so glad you're oki and awake now."

"me too."

"now tell me. what'd you do to make yourself like this? What did you do to get yourself into the hospital? Tell me, minwoo, tell me."

kei, junjin, and eric let themselves into the apartment. They looked up and found hyesung standing at the hallway entrance.

"whoa, if it isn't haf-tung," junjin said.

"the name's hyesung," hyesung said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"what are you doing out of bed?" kei asked.

Hyesung looked at kei. "kei?" he asked, a surprised look on his face.

Kei realized that hyesung was looking at her hair and instantly she became self-conscious. She looked down at her hands, but then she told herself, come on, kei. You said you're a new person now. so act like a new person! She then forced herself to lift her head and look at hyesung in the eye.

"yeah, it's kei alright," junjin said, draping his arm around kei's shoulder. "doesn't she look nice with her new hair?"

hyesung stood there and continued to stare without answering. Kei grew disappointed at his reaction. She brushed junjin's arm off of her shoulders and started to walk towards hyesung's direction, to the hallway. She brushed past hyesung and walked into the hallway. She walked into eric and junjin's room, shutting the door behind her.

junjin cocked his head to the side. "she's doing that whole ignoring people thing real well now."

hyesung didn't move from his position. He stood still facing eric and junjin, yet his eyes were cast to the side, looking behind him where kei had walked.

Is that really you kei? Or are you another someone else?

"everything just seemed to have gone down the drain for me. except dancing. That's why all I did was dance. No matter how hungry, thirsty, or tired I was, I danced. I didn't want to go to the dorms, I didn't want to go to class, I didn't want to do anything but dance. Not for the sake of dancing, but…but for the sake of refuge…from everything…"

soo yung sighed. "how come you were so foolish…"

minwoo looked up at soo yung. "because…because I wronged you, soo yung…"

soo yung looked up at minwoo. Her eyes began to moisten again. "oh minwoo…"

"when I danced, I thought about all the stuff that's happened, and the one image that I saw the most…was your face…I thought I loved kei…and yes, I do have feelings for her…but…I realized that she isn't the one that I love…that the one that I truly love is someone else…"

soo yung's eyes soon spilled with warm tears, a smile on her face. "minwoo…"

minwoo let out a long sigh. "I want to stare at you forever now, but my eyes…they won't listen…they keep closing on me…"

"you're tired. Go to sleep. I'll stay by your side," soo yung said.

Minwoo nodded. "I'll see your face in my dreams."

Soo yung smiled. "sweet dreams."

Minwoo then closed his eyes, and soon, he fell asleep.

Soo yung kept smiling to herself. He just confessed his love to me…oh minwoo, hurry up and get better. Hurry. She glanced to the bedside and saw that the water pitcher was empty. She got up, grabbed the pitcher and walked out of the room.

"well well well, if it isn't miss disappearing act soo yung," a voice said.

Soo yung looked up and nearly dropped the pitcher.

"kangta? What are you doing here?"

"I would like to ask you the same question."

Soo yung narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that's any of your business." She started to walk away but kangta stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"hey, not so fast. Don't want you to disappear again like you have for the past few days."

soo yung looked up at kangta. "don't you have anything else better to do than to annoy me?"

kangta looked at soo yung, amused. "don't sound so irritated. You know how many girls would die to have me follow them around?"

soo yung rolled her eyes. "I guess I'm not one of them. Now leave me alone." She tried to walk away again, but kangta blocked her path.

"who are you getting water for?"

"like I said, that's none of your business."

"why are you hiding who the patient is?"

soo yung gave kangta a stern look. "I'm getting water for my boyfriend. Is that a crime now?"

"really? Wow, I didn't think hyesung was hurt enough to be in the hospital."

Soo yung's eyes widened. "what, hyesung's hurt!"

Kangta gave her a confused look. "you mean, hyesung's not the one in the room?"

Soo yung dropped the pitcher and grabbed kangta's collar. "is hyesung really hurt? What happened to him?"

kangta looked even more confused. "you mean, hyesung's not your boyfriend?"

Soo yung stared at kangta wide-eyed. She then rushed down the hospital corridor, leaving kangta standing alone in the hospital corridor.

Soo yung rushed to the payphone and hastily jammed some change into the coin slots. She rapidly punched hyesung's cell phone number.

"hey this is hyesung, please leave your name and mess—"

soo yung snapped the receiver back onto its hook and ran back to kangta.

"where is hyesung now?" soo yung asked in a demanding voice.

Kangta held up his hands as in a surrender position. "I don't know where he is. It's not like I was the one that beat him."

Soo yung let out an exasperated and irritated sigh and ran back to minwoo's room. she leant over minwoo and gave a quick peck on his cheek. "I'll be back dear." She then grabbed her bag and rushed out of the hospital.

Kangta did not chase after soo yung. instead, he slowly walked and slipped into the room that soo yung had run into. Minwoo's room. he gazed upon minwoo sleeping in the hospital bed.

"so this is the real one, eh?" kangta said to himself, smirking.

Chapter 51

"so you're oki now?" junjin asked hyesung as hyesung stood in the hallway entrance.

Hyesung looked at junjin. "a little. Still sore," he mumbled back.

"that's good then. By any chance are you going to be well enough to go home to your own bed?" junjin said. Eric smacked him from behind the bed. "ow!" junjin cried.

Hyesung smirked. "believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't be here right now. but I don't think I can walk down the block, let alone 10 miles."

"sigh. Another day on the couch…" junjin muttered to himself.

"nice hair," hyesung commented.

Junjin eyed hyesung. "was that a compliment or a sarcastic remark?"

hyesung shrugged. "you can take it one way or the other, whatever pleases you."

Junjin ran his hand over his head, an angry look on his face. "you know, if it weren't for kei, I woulda thrown your sorry a—"

"let's go, junjin. We have to get to work now. I'm going to go change first."

Junjin still glared at hyesung, steam coming out of his ears. "fine. I'm going to take a leak first. This has not been a good day so far, and it's not even noon yet." Junjin stormed off to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Eric walked towards the hallway and stopped when he reached where hyesung stood. "look here. The same goes for me too. if it weren't for kei, I would have thrown you out of the house too. You better watch your mouth and your back mr. Shin hyesung." Eric inched his face closer to hyesung's, his eyes giving hyesung a menacing glare. "I don't care what you say to either me or junjin, but if you ever hurt or upset kei again like last night, you can guarantee that you'll get another beatdown, and I don't know if you'll be still alive after this one." With that, eric continued down the hallway…

Hyesung continued to stand in his position, a frown on his face.

last like again kei upset or hurt ever you

"did I hurt her? but…"

it felt so right…

knock knock.

Kei looked up and saw eric open the door a pop his head in.

"going to work…gotta change," he simply stated.

"oh. Go ahead," kei said. She remained sitting on the bed as eric pulled out his workshirt of the closet and began to unbutton the shirt he was wearing. Kei just stared blankly at the wall, unaffected by the fact that eric was changing in the room. she had seen him and junjin change clothes countless times before and took it as an everyday thing.

"so…are you oki?" eric asked.

Kei looked up at eric with surprised eyes. Eric rarely asked if kei was oki, even when he knew she wasn't. she then looked away. "I'm fine."

Eric took his shirt off, exposing his bare upper torso. "BS," he muttered under his breath.

Kei looked up at eric.

"oki so I'm NOT oki? Is that a problem for you, eric? Am I not allowed to be upset?" kei snapped.

Eric was silent. He stared back at her.

Kei lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry eric. I…I don't feel too great now."

"I see." Eric slipped into his work shirt and buttoned it up. Already wearing his work pants, he simply tucked his shirt into his pants.

Kei looked up and watched as eric straightened out his shirt. A sly smile crept onto her face.

Eric spotted the smile and turned to kei. "what are you smiling about?"

"you know…I wonder how many girls would die to see what I'm seeing right now."

eric gave kei a weird look. He then smiled.

"none. You're the only lucky one to see this."

"not even your future wife?"

eric smiled. "we'll see if I even get married first. Right now, gotta worry about other stuff."

"I really think you should start dating. It may do you some good," kei said.

Eric took out a tie and started to tie it around his neck. "you sound like a mother now."

Kei laughed.

Eric smiled. "you know, that's the first time you laughed today…well, except for when we found out that sandy was a white guy."

Eric ran his hands through his hair a couple times and then started picking up his clothes. "I better get going. can't be late, and knowing junjin, it'll take him 20 minutes to get changed and ready."

"well, he doesn't have to comb his hair now."

eric gave it a thought. "that's right. Then he should be able to change in 2 minutes…but then, I think he'll manage to make it 10."

Kei got up from the bed and they both headed towards the door.

"oh wait," kei said. She reached up and straightened eric's collar, where the tie was showing.

"thanks." They both then headed out into the living room.

hyesung was now sitting on the living room couch. He looked up when eric and kei came into the living room.

"I'm going to go to car first. Tell junjin that I'm waiting for him in the car, oki?" eric told kei.

Kei nodded and eric left the apartment. Kei then turned to hyesung.

"are you thirsty hyesung?" without really waiting for an answer, she walked to the kitchen and got two glasses of water. She walked back over to the living room, nearly colliding with junjin on the way.

"eek! Sorry kei! I'm late! Where's eric?"

"in the car. He's waiting for you now."

"oki. Thanks. Bye kei. See ya hen-dung!" junjin called out as he zipped through the door, shutting it behind him.

"it's hyesung," hyesung said, though junjin was already gone.

Kei smiled as she placed the glasses down on the table and sat down on the couch next to hyesung. "don't worry about it. Junjin's memory's not that great."

"neither is his personality," hyesung muttered to himself.

Kei became slightly offended. "junjin happens to be one of the most fun-loving people I know. He's also very sensitive, which is probably why he feels a tad, uh, sensitive, towards you."

"he's not the only one…"

"…if you're talking about eric, I don't think he's done anything to show contempt to you."

hyesung restrained from laughing in kei's face. he just smirked at her remark, thinking back to eric's threat 10 minutes ago.

"…if you're talking about me…about last night…" suddenly kei felt timid and trailed off.

Hyesung looked up as kei mentioned last night. he thought back to the brief kiss they shared, how an unknown force pushed him to lean closer to kei, to place his lips upon hers…how cold but refreshing her lips tasted.

"…I have nothing to say…except that whatever happened last night…should not have happened, and I hope for the two of us to put it behind us as if it never happened," kei said quickly and in an assertive tone. She then quickly got up and walked in a fast pace to eric and junjin's room.

seeing that he was abandoned again for the second time in the day, hyesung just leaned back in the couch, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

"hyesung hasn't been back to his room for the past few days?" soo yung asked.

The girl shook her head. "I haven't seen anyone go through that door. No hyesung, no minwoo. What happened to the two of them? Don't you know, since you're their friend?"

"I know where minwoo is, but are you sure hyesung hasn't been back?"

the girl shook her head. "no sign of hyesung. Not that I've seen."

"thanks cherie," soo yung thanked. She then left the dorm and rushed to a school building.

Knock knock.

"come in."

professor jo looked up from his desk and found an unfamiliar girl standing at the doorway. "may I help you?"

"hi professor jo. My name is yoo soo yung, and I was wondering if shin hyesung's been showing up in class lately."

"no, he hasn't."

"really? Do you know where he is?" soo yung asked, anxious.

Professor jo shook his head. "I was told he was sick with a flu and wouldn't be able to come to class for a week. I just assumed that he's home."

"who told you he was sick?"

"one of my other students, lim kei."

"kei?" soo yung asked, surprised.

"you know kei? Very good student. Studious, one of the ones that actually pays attention in class."

"yes, that's…kei…"

"yes. She just told me yesterday that hyesung was getting better."

"I see…thank you professor."

"anytime yoo soo yung."

Soo yung slipped out of the office and walked out of the building.

"kei must know where he is…but where is she?" she then headed back towards the dormitories, but not to her own…

knock knock.

The door opened.

"hi can I help you?"

"is dongwan here?"

andy looked behind him at dongwan, who was sleeping on his bed. "he's sleeping now."

"can I just ask him a real quick question?" soo yung asked.

"uhhh…I don't think that would be a good idea…"

soo yung looked confused. "why not?"

andy sighed. He took one more look at dongwan and then stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. "dongwan's not feeling too great now. he's not on such great terms with his girlfriend now—"

"what's wrong with him and kei?"

andy looked at soo yung surprised. "you know kei?"

"I was roomies with her. she's also my friend."

"oh…well, yeah. Him and kei aren't going through the best of times now…"

a worried look came upon soo yung's face. she then looked at andy. "do you know where kei is now?"

"kei? Why yeah, she lives with my buddies eric and junjin now."

"eric! That's right! Do you know where they live? Can you take me to their place? It's really important!"

andy looked at soo yung. "why, what's up?"

"I think kei knows where my friend hyesung is."

"oh hyesung! That's his name. Yeah, he's there too."

"really? Can you take me there, uh…"

"andy. My name's andy."

"can you take me to there, andy?"

"sure. I'm sure dongwan won't mind me taking the car. It's only a 10 minute drive there. Come on."

Ding dong ding dong.

Hyesung looked up from where he sat on the couch. "the doorbell's ringing." He didn't know whether to answer it or not, since it wasn't his house.

Ding dong ding dong.

Hyesung looked towards the hallway. It didn't seem like kei was going to answer the door. Hyesung just sat back in the couch.

Ring ring. Ring ring. The phone rang.

Not knowing whether to pick up the phone or not, hyesung just let it rang. Eventually the answering machine picked it up.

"hello, eric, junjin, kei?" andy's voice sounded through the machine. "Gosh, where are you guys? I'm at the doorstep with a girl named soo yung who's looking for kei and hyesung—"

hyesung's eyes widened. Soo yung! he then tried to get up as fast as possible and hurry towards the door. Before he reached the front door, he tripped over himself and fell to the ground, hard. Hyesung then groaned in pain.

"what was that?" soo yung's voice said on the answering machine.

"yeah, there was a loud noise. I thought I heard a loud thud inside," andy's voice said.

There were then loud bangings on the front door.

"hyesung! Kei!" soo yung's voice cried.

"eric! Junjin! Are you guys in there playing DDR without me! how dare you!" andy's voice could be heard through the answering machine.

From all the commotion outside, kei came out of the room. she heard soo yung's and andy's voices through the answering machine and she saw hyesung sprawled on the ground.

"hyesung!" kei rushed to hyesung's side and tried to pull him up. She then reached up unlocked the front door.

"kei!" soo yung cried as she saw kei.

"soo yung…" kei answered soo yung.

soo yung then saw hyesung. "oh my gosh, what happened to you hyesung?" soo yung rushed to hyesung's side and saw all the bruises and injuries.

"wow, so that's how you look like. Man, you don't look too good. You musta looked even worse before." The three of them helped hyesung back up onto the couch.

"gosh, we have to get you to the hospital," soo yung said.

"no," hyesung said. "no hospital. I don't want to go to the hospital."

"why hyesung? You're hurt. You have to go to the hospital."

"no! not with kangta's dad there as a doctor!"

"what? Kangta's dad is a doctor?" soo yung thought back to her encounters with kangta at the hospital. "no wonder I kept seeing him there."

"seeing who?" kei asked.

"kangta. I keep seeing him at the hospital. I've been able avoid him so far except for today. It was today when he mentioned that hyesung was hurt. That's why I came to look for hyesung."

"kangta…" hyesung said with menacing eyes. "how can a lowlife like him have a doctor as a father?"

"hyesung, you really should get to the hospital. Who knows if you're internally bleeding or something."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"who beat you like this anywayz?" andy asked.

Hyesung shot even menacing eyes. "who else…besides rich boy himself."

"rich boy?" andy asked.

"…kangta," hyesung finally answered.

"kangta?" soo yung and kei cried, shocked. "kangta did this to you?" kei asked, unable to believe the the star music student would do something so cruel.

"yes that sorry excuse for a human being did."

"why would he do this?" soo yung said.

Hyesung looked up at soo yung. "for you."

"for me?" soo yung asked, confused.

"he thought I was your boyfriend so he beat me up and threatened me to stay away from you."

soo yung had a shocked look on her face.

"that's very dirty and immature of him to do," andy remarked.

"I can't believe he would do something like this," kei said. "he's got tons of girls going after him. why does he have to beat hyesung up to get soo yung when he's got so many other choic—''

"oh no!" soo yung cried.

Three pairs of eyes looked at soo yung.

Soo yung grabbed andy's sleeve. "andy, you have to take me to the hospital now!"

"what? Huh?" andy asked, confused.

"I have to get to the hospital now! kangta's there now, and so is minwoo!"

from chapter 51...

"gosh, we have to get you to the hospital," soo yung said.

"no," hyesung said. "no hospital. I don't want to go to the hospital."

"why hyesung? You're hurt. You have to go to the hospital."

"no! not with kangta's dad there as a doctor!"

"what? Kangta's dad is a doctor?" soo yung thought back to her encounters with kangta at the hospital. "no wonder I kept seeing him there."

"seeing who?" kei asked.

"kangta. I keep seeing him at the hospital. I've been able avoid him so far except for today. It was today when he mentioned that hyesung was hurt. That's why I came to look for hyesung."

"kangta…" hyesung said with menacing eyes. "how can a lowlife like him have a doctor as a father?"

"hyesung, you really should get to the hospital. Who knows if you're internally bleeding or something."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"who beat you like this anywayz?" andy asked.

Hyesung shot even menacing eyes. "who else…besides rich boy himself."

"rich boy?" andy asked.

"…kangta," hyesung finally answered.

"kangta?" soo yung and kei cried, shocked. "kangta did this to you?" kei asked, unable to believe the the star music student would do something so cruel.

"yes that sorry excuse for a human being did."

"why would he do this?" soo yung said.

Hyesung looked up at soo yung. "for you."

"for me?" soo yung asked, confused.

"he thought I was your boyfriend so he beat me up and threatened me to stay away from you."

soo yung had a shocked look on her face.

"that's very dirty and immature of him to do," andy remarked.

"I can't believe he would do something like this," kei said. "he's got tons of girls going after him. why does he have to beat hyesung up to get soo yung when he's got so many other choic—''

"oh no!" soo yung cried.

Three pairs of eyes looked at soo yung.

Soo yung grabbed andy's sleeve. "andy, you have to take me to the hospital now!"

"what? Huh?" andy asked, confused.

"I have to get to the hospital now! kangta's there now, and so is minwoo!"

Chapter 52

andy pulled into the hospital parking lot, and before he even set the car into parking gear, soo yung opened the passenger door and rushed out of the car, darting towards the hospital. Andy parked the car and ran in after soo yung, while kei helped hyesung out of the car. Once they were out of the car, kei threw one of hyesung's arms around her shoulders and helped him to the hospital. Once they got inside the hospital, kei went up to the front desk.

"my friend here needs to see a doctor. Where do I go?" kei asked the nurse behind the desk. Hyesung looked at kei with surprised eyes.

The nurse looked up and saw hyesung. "please go down this hall to window 5. The nurse there will help you."

"thank you," kei said. She started to take hyesung down the hallway.

"kei, I thought we were coming for minwoo," hyesung said.

Kei looked at hyesung. "you're not. You're going to go see a doctor yourself."

"but—"

"no buts, I don't want to hear it. This is what I should have done when I first saw you sprawled on the street. Just shut up and go see a doctor."

Hyesung didn't reply to kei after her demand. He obediently allowed kei to take him to see a doctor.

Soo yung was too anxious to wait for the elevator and ran up the stairs to the 5th floor. She finally reached the 5th floor and ran down the hallway, nearly bumping into a nurse carrying linens.

"WAH!" the nurse cried, spinning around. Linens flew everywhere, including andy's head. Andy pulled the linen cloth off his head and bent down to help the nurse up.

"I'm sorry. My friend's in a hurry," andy apologized, helping the nurse pick up some linens.

The nurse grumbled angrily and scooped up all the linens. She stood up and walked away. Andy sighed and breathed hard. "geez, that girl can make it up those stairs fast." Andy then jogged down the hallway, looking into all the open rooms to find soo yung.

He stopped before a room that had its door open. Andy looked inside and found soo yung standing inside, looking ready to faint.

"he's gone…minwoo's not here…"

"shin hyesung."

Hyesung and kei looked up as the nurse called hyesung in to see the doctor. Another nurse brought a wheelchair out and kei helped hyesung into the wheelchair. The nurse then wheeled hyesung away to see the doctor.

Kei sighed. She looked at her watch. "I should call eric and junjin and tell them where I am, just in case I don't get home in time to cook dinner." Kei reached into her pockets but found them empty. "hmmm…my wallet must be in the car… hmm… hey, I don't think I locked the car door…" kei walked out of the hospital and to the car. She opened the car door, which indeed was still unlocked.

"gosh, someone coulda gotten into this car real easy…" kei found her wallet on the backseat and got ahold of it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the keys were still in the ignition. "oh my gosh, andy left the keys in the ignition! We really set this car up to get stolen. Dongwan would kil—" kei cut herself off as she mentioned dongwan's name. As soon as she mentioned his name, his face appeared in her mind.

"dongwan…"

an image of hyesung's face then popped up.

"…"

and an image of kangta and minwoo appeared before her, a few parking spaces away.

"...what the?" kei peered through the car windows and saw that kangta was wheeling an unconscious minwoo in a wheelchair to a car a few parking spaces down. Kangta unlocked the car doors and piled minwoo into the backseat, laying minwoo down so he couldn't be seen through the windows. Kangta slammed the door shut, stuck the wheelchair in a bush that bordered the parking lot, and got into the car. He then drove off, not spotting kei at all.

Kei got out of the car and stood up, watching the car pull out of the parking lot. Instinctively, she got into the driver's seat, started the engine, and peeled out of the parking lot after kangta's car.

"andy, where can he be?" soo yung cried, tears coming out of her eyes.

"shhh, calm down. Mebbe he had to go to another room to do some checkup or something. Or they had to transfer him to another room or something. Don't think the worse, soo yung. mebbe he's still oki."

Soo yung shook her head. "I can't believe this! Why? Why!" soo yung started to scream.

Andy jumped at her screams and put a finger to his mouth. "shhh, soo yung, don't be so loud, it's a hospital. I'm sure Minwoo's oki, he's just in another room seeing a doctor."

Knock knock.

Andy turned around and saw a nurse waiting at the door.

"excuse me, but I have to check up on lee minwoo," the nurse said.

"uhh, minwoo's not in the room now," andy said.

The nurse looked confused. "what? That's strange. He should be in the room right now. he's not allowed out of bed, well, he wouldn't be able to get out of bed on his own anywayz, unless he has to go to the bathroom. He didn't call a nurse for help or anything….he should be in bed now."

"hello head nurse." A younger nurse came up to the doorway.

the older nurse turned to the young nurse. "ahh, sharon, you were tending to lee minwoo earlier today. Do you know where he is now?"

"you mean he's not in the room now?" the young nurse looked in and only found andy and soo yung in the room. "hmmm… earlier today, dr. ahn's son had come into the room when I gave lee minwoo his shots. Mebbe dr. ahn's son would know."

Soo yung and andy shot looks at each other. "dr. ahn's son!" soo yung exclaimed. She then turned to the nurses. "do you know where he is now!"

The nurses, slightly alarmed at soo yung's loud bursts, shook their heads. Soo yung then rushed out of the room, brushing past the nurses. Andy followed after soo yung, catching up with her.

"what do you plan to do, soo yung?" andy asked, walking next to soo yung with her fast pace.

"I'm going to find minwoo or kangta, either one of them."

Kei was now following kangta's car, keeping her distance away from kangta's car so he wouldn't notice that she was tailing him. they were now about a 10 minutes drive away from the hospital.

"where in the world is he taking minwoo?" kei wondered to herself.

Soon kangta's car pulled into a secluded alley. Kei's heart began to beat faster. "what does he plan to do?" she parked on the street and hurried out of the car towards the alley.

Once she reached the alley, she quickly but quietly hurried to behind a dumpster near where the car was parked. She saw that kangta had already gotten out of the car and had pulled minwoo out of the car too. Minwoo's body laid on the ground. Minwoo was moving, but his movements looked painful and tired.

Kangta stood before minwoo, glaring down at minwoo lying on the ground.

"look at this. I can't believe soo yung would go for losers like you and that sorry hyesung fool. You're soo yung's man? What do you have that I don't have? Huh? What is it that she sees in pathetic fools like you that she doesn't see in me? huh?" with that, kangta gave a swift kick to minwoo's stomach, and minwoo's body coiled around kangta's leg on impact. Kei's eyes widened. No…

"hah. I should beat you like that loser hyesung. I can just imagine how black and blue he is now. stupid pansy, he didn't even know how to fight back. He just laid there for me to beat him…" kangta knelt down and held his face close to minwoo's. "…just like you are right now." kangta stood back up. He then gave another swift kick to minwoo's chest. "can't beat you to a pulp today, but I can't let you off without giving you a good beat—AHH!" kangta cried everything went dark and he was pushed to the ground. Kangta hit his head and became very dizzy. He then felt blows hit him in the stomach. "ugh!" he cried in pain. Kangta tried to get up, but failed when he felt himself engulfed in a mess of substances, wet and dry. he was close to suffocating, but he managed to make a cavity in the substances around his nose and mouth to allow him to breathe. He combed through the substances and found a surface closed around him. after minutes of rolling around, he finally was able to see light and get out of the mess. He found that someone had stuck a garbage can full of trash over his head. He tried to get up, but his stomach ached from the blows and kangta remained on the ground. Grimacing in pain, he looked and saw that minwoo was gone. "no…someone must have seen me…&!" grabbing onto his stomach and clutching his head, he slowly got up to his feet and headed out of the alley. He hobbled out and saw a black car speeding away.

"no!" kangta cried. He limped back to his car, but noticed something wrong with it…it was lopsided. A tire had been punctured by a broken and sharp steel rod.

"AAARRGGGGHHHH! Whoever did this is DEAD!"

"soo yung, calm down, please. Minwoo is oki. You don't need to run around the hospital ten thousand times, cuz you can't find minwoo this way, and…and besides… I'm getting outta breath…" andy said, breathing hard from keeping up with soo yung.

soo yung stopped in her tracks. "where can he be? Where would kangta take him? what if he's not in the hospital?" soo yung's eyes widened and turned to andy. "we have to go look for him!"

"hah?" andy questioned, exasperated. he knew that searching the streets for minwoo and kangta would be meaningless, but seeing the look on soo yung's face, he knew better than to try to persuade her otherwise. He reached into his pockets, only to find them empty. His eyes widened.

"what, what's wrong andy?" soo yung asked, seeing the look on his face.

"oh no!" he then cursed and looked at soo yung. "we better hurry to see if the car's not stolen."

"what?" soo yung asked, shocked. But andy already dashed down the hospital corridor. Soo yung trailed after him.

soo yung ran out of the main entrance of the hospital to where the car was parked…

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

the car was gone.

"DONGWAN IS GOING TO K-I-L-L ME!"

an even more anxious look came upon soo yung's face. "you mean, we can't go look for minwoo and kangta?"

"no, not without the car. I won't be able to look for anyone now if dongwan finds out that I got his car stolen! Oh my gosh, I'm going to die!" andy rubbed his face with his hands. He then stopped and took his hands away, a questioning look on his face. he turned to soo yung. "where…where are kei and hyesung?"

soo yung looked up at andy with surprised eyes, the realization that hyesung and kei weren't with them just hitting her. "i…I don't know…"

"oh my gosh, we have to look for them too. They were still in the car when the two of us rushed into the hospital. What if someone stole the car and kidnapped them too! Soo yung, we hav—soo yung? oh crud!" andy knelt down and scooped up the fainted soo yung into his arms.

Kei finally reached the hospital. She pulled into a parking spot close to the entrance and carried minwoo out of the car. Minwoo was not much taller or bigger than her, but kei had trouble holding up all of minwoo's weight. She mustered up some strength and quickened her pace to the entrance.

"help, please! My friend needs help!" kei called once she made it inside the hospital. a few nurses and hospital workers responded quickly and pulled out a stretcher for minwoo. They laid minwoo down on the stretcher and rolled him away to the emergency room, kei trailing behind them. When they finally wheeled minwoo in through the swinging double doors to the emergency room, kei finally stopped to take a breath. There were no benches or chairs for her to sit in, so she leaned against the wall and sat on the floor. She closed her eyes and consciously acknowledged the fatigue within her.

"kei?"

kei slowly opened her eyes and looked towards the direction of the voice that called her. kei saw andy walking towards her.

"kei omigosh, you're here!" andy said, slowly jogging to her. "where have you been? Where's hyesung?"

"I don't know…" kei tiredly replied.

"what? You don't know where he is?" andy exclaimed.

"no no…I don't know where he is NOW, but I took him to see a doctor earlier, and I don't know exactly where he is now," kei answered in a tired voice.

"oh…hey, what's wrong? Why are you so tired now?" andy knelt down next to kei.

Kei fluttered her eyes, trying to open them. She brought her hands up and rubbed her temples. "let's just say that I've been through a lot in the past half hour or so."

"I'm about to DIE here! Dongwan's car's missing!"

"don't worry, it's on the other side of the hospital now."

"what, you took it?"

kei slowly nodded.

Andy let out a BIG sigh of relief. "good lord, you gave me the biggest scare ever! I literally thought I was gonna have my head twisted off by dongwan. you know how big his arms are? My head would literally go 'pop' when he twists it off like a soda bottle cap."

Kei nodded in acknowledgement, her eyes closed.

"but we're still in trouble, minwoo's missing—"

"he's inside the emergency room now," kei sleepily said.

Andy let out another BIG sigh of relief. "good gosh, everything's oki. Except that soo yung fainted and is in a room now."

Kei looked to andy, opening one eye halfway. "what? Soo yung fainted?"

andy nodded. "poor girl. Minwoo disappeared and she didn't take it real well. She ran around the hospital for a few hundred times trying to look for him."

Kei nodded again in acknowledgement and leaned against the wall. The adrenaline rush was gone and now her body was left exhausted. "andy, I'm real tired. Can you take me home?"

Andy nodded. "you look like you need to get to a bed of your own. Come on, I'll help you out. direct me to where the car is."

Chapter 53

There was a blurry dark figure within the grey image. No matter how much he blinked, his vision would not clear. He then felt sudden blows to the stomach. Muffled threats filled the air. When would this figure stop? The pain seemed to go on forever…

Suddenly the kicking stopped and the dark figure went away. Another figure came into vision, and it came closer and closer.

"minwoo…minwoo…come on, I'm getting you outta here…" a soft voice said.

Minwoo slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a hospital room, one slightly different than the one he was in before. He blinked a few times until his vision came into focus. The room was dark, indicating that it was presently nighttime. He stared at the bare ceiling above him.

That…that voice…who is it? Sounded…sounded like…kei…

"did you see how many girls commented on how good my new hair looks?" junjin asked eric, grinning from ear to ear.

"yeah, and I also noticed how many girls ran away giving you weird looks because of your new hair," eric said, drying his wet hair with a towel.

"ahhh, they're just jealous cuz I look better than their boyfriends." Junjin continued to shave away the shaving cream on his face.

"sure… you know, I don't see why you shave, junjin. You don't even have any facial hair."

"just cuz my facial hair's not as thick as yours. Eww, look, there are stubs coming out of your face now. you should shave."

"alright. Then you get out and let me shave."

"wah!" junjin got pushed out of the bathroom and had the bathroom door slammed in his face. "eric mun!" he yelled. "what do you think you're doing? I haven't finished yet!"

"junjin?"

junjin looked to his left and saw kei standing in the hallway next to him, half-awake.

"hey! Look who decided to come out of hibernation," junjin said.

"what time is it now?" kei sleepily asked.

"it's Sunday one o'clock in the afternoon now. you've slept for the past 18 hours nonstop. were you that tired? What in the world did you do yesterday?"

kei scratched her head. "I dunno…stuff…"

junjin squinted one eye. "stuff, huh? Andy told me that you said you had a rough half hour. Something about minwoo was missing and you stole dongwan's car or something like that…"

"oh, that…uh, I'll tell you the story later."

"aite. You oki now?"

kei nodded. Kei then looked at junjin with one eye. "were you shaving?"

junjin looked down at the shaving cream that was still on his face. "yeah, and then eric kicked me out of the bathroom. How rude!"

kei let out a small laugh and shook her head. "my poor junjin."

Junjin stuck out his lower lip as if he was pouting. He then made a sour face. "eww, I think I just ate some shaving cream."

Kei laughed. "anywayz, you hungry? I make a quick lunch for you."

"mmm…not real hungry. But can you get me a bottle of water? Just bring it to my room. I'm gonna practice dancing in my room today."

Kei nodded and walked to the kitchen. She took a bottle water out of the fridge and then walked back down the hallway. Junjin was not in the hallway anymore. the bathroom door was open and kei found junjin finishing up his shaving job. She continued past the bathroom to eric and junjin's room.

as she let herself into the room, she found eric changing inside.

"oh I'm sorry eric," kei said, slightly embarrassed. "I should've knocked."

"it's oki. At least I'm wearing pants now. you've seen me walking around the place with my boxers before."

Kei smiled and she placed the water bottle on the desk next to junjin's bed. Eric pulled a shirt over his head and combed his hands through his hair.

"eric?"

eric looked at kei. "hmm?"

"can you take me to the hospital today? I…I want to go see hyesung, soo yung, and minwoo. They're all there…"

in a slightly delayed answer, eric nodded. "get washed up."

Minwoo's mind immediately awakened when a fit of coughs came over him. his throat was extremely dry… he reached over and tried to grasp the water pitcher on the dresser next to his bed…

A sudden sound of footsteps echoed in his room and the water pitcher disappeared out of minwoo's grasp.

"here, drink this," a familiar soft voice said, and a glass of water appeared before minwoo.

Minwoo looked up, and as his vision cleared, the face of the person holding the glass of water to him cleared. Kei's face…

"kei…" he whispered.

Kei made a face. "geez, listen to your voice. Hurry up and drink this." Kei made her way next to the bed and placed the glass to minwoo's lips. She eased the water into his mouth, careful not to tip the glass too much to make minwoo choke on the water. Minwoo then stopped drinking and kei took the glass away.

Minwoo rested his head back onto the pillow.

"kei…" he whispered again.

"do you feel better now?" kei asked.

Minwoo nodded. He then motioned to sit up. Kei helped up sit up, placing the pillow behind him against the wall so he could lean on it.

Minwoo coughed. He then looked up at kei. "kei…wha…what happened yesterday?"

Kei shook her head. "don't worry about it. As long as you're oki."

"no, I remembered getting my shots yesterday… and then someone carried me out of the bed and wheeled me out of the bed… and then I kept getting hit in the stomach… and then I'm in here, a totally different room…"

kei just stood there, staring at minwoo.

"and…and I remember hearing someone say… 'minwoo…come on, I'm getting you outta here'… a real soft voice…" minwoo looked up at kei. "…like yours…"

kei's heart skipped when she heard minwoo repeat what she had said to him when she pulled him out of the alley the previous day, but she restrained from showing any reaction.

"…was…was that you? what happened yesterday?"

kei gave a faint smile. "I'll tell you when you get better. You just rest now, oki? I have to go see soo yung and hyesung now."

"soo yung…hyesung?" minwoo asked confused.

Kei shook her head. "you just worry about yourself now, oki? I'll be back later. Mebbe if soo yung and hyesung are oki, they can come see you too, oki?"

Minwoo didn't look convinced, but he was too weak to argue and simply nodded.

"there, that's a good boy. Do you want me to help you lay back down?"

minwoo shook his head. "I should sit up. Been laying down for a while now."

kei nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow, oki?" she then back away from the bed and walked out of the room. eric, who was waiting outside of the room, turned and saw kei come out of the room.

"let's see hyesung now…" kei said.

Hyesung was out of his bed, standing next to the window and staring out at the surroundings below. He thought back to the previous day's incidents…

"gosh, we have to get you to the hospital," soo yung said.

"no," hyesung said. "no hospital. I don't want to go to the hospital."

"why hyesung? You're hurt. You have to go to the hospital."

"no! not with kangta's dad there as a doctor!"

"what? Kangta's dad is a doctor?" soo yung thought back to her encounters with kangta at the hospital. "no wonder I kept seeing him there."

"seeing who?" kei asked.

"kangta. I keep seeing him at the hospital. I've been able avoid him so far except for today. It was today when he mentioned that hyesung was hurt. That's why I came to look for hyesung."

"kangta…" hyesung said with menacing eyes. "how can a lowlife like him have a doctor as a father?"

"hyesung, you really should get to the hospital. Who knows if you're internally bleeding or something."

"I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"who beat you like this anywayz?" andy asked.

Hyesung shot even menacing eyes. "who else…besides rich boy himself."

"rich boy?" andy asked.

"…kangta," hyesung finally answered.

"kangta?" soo yung and kei cried, shocked. "kangta did this to you?" kei asked.

"yes that sorry excuse for a human being did."

"why would he do this?" soo yung said.

Hyesung looked up at soo yung. "for you."

"for me?" soo yung asked, confused.

"he thought I was your boyfriend so he beat me up and threatened me to stay away from you."

soo yung had a shocked look on her face.

"that's very dirty and immature of him to do," andy remarked.

"I can't believe he would do something like this," kei said. "he's got tons of girls going after him. why does he have to beat hyesung up to get soo yung when he's got so many other choic—''

"oh no!" soo yung cried.

Three pairs of eyes looked at soo yung.

Soo yung grabbed andy's sleeve. "andy, you have to take me to the hospital now!"

"what? Huh?" andy asked, confused.

"I have to get to the hospital now! kangta's there now, and so is minwoo!"

"my friend here needs to see a doctor. Where do I go?"

"kei, I thought we were coming for minwoo."

"you're not. You're going to go see a doctor yourself."

"but—"

"no buts, I don't want to hear it. This is what I should have done when I first saw you sprawled on the street. Just shut up and go see a doctor."

"hyesung?"

hyesung turned around and saw kei come into the room. "kei…"

"what are you doing out of bed? Shouldn't you be resting?" kei asked.

"not when I've been sleeping for the past 13 hours. I don't think I can sleep anymore. and I feel a lot better anywayz. The bruises and stuff are going away."

Kei smiled. "that's good. Did the doctor say anything?"

Hyesung shrugged. "nothing real serious. No internal stuff, no broken bones, thank god. He prescribed me some antibiotics and painkillers. I can be released tomorrow."

"that's good to hear. That's really good news," kei said happily.

"so…is minwoo oki?" hyesung asked.

Kei nodded. "I just went and saw him. he's fine."

"that's good. What was wrong with him anywayz? Why is he in the hospital?"

kei crinkled her nose. "you know, I seriously don't know. I didn't even ask."

Hyesung shook his head. "I just know that for a long time, he comes back to the dorm room real late, and leaves real early in the mornings. And he was always tired, but he kept going out anywayz. at first, I thought he was just avoiding me cuz of what had happened… I was mad at him for what he did to soo yung… but I didn't think he would be hospitalized…"

"it's oki. He's fine now."

hyesung nodded and then faced kei. "th-thank you kei," he said with some difficulty

"what? Why are you thanking me?"

"for all you did. If you think about it, I actually owe you my life."

Kei gulped. "I don't think I would go to that extent."

Hyesung walked up closer to kei, until he was looking down straight into her eyes. Kei's heartbeat quickened when she felt his breath whisking upon her face. he is THAT close…

"I know that I was a jerk in the past, I can't deny that. I also can't deny that no matter how rude I was toward you, you never seemed to hate me for what I do. Instead, you have remained so kind to me…so caring…so…loving…"

kei's eyes widened as hyesung whispered his words. Her gaze was locked on his and she could not move from her position. She could hardly even blink…

"kei, i…" hyesung began to say.

"hyesung…" kei said, noticing that their faces were getting closer and closer. Her heart was now banging against her chest.

Closer…

Closer…

Both their eyes began to close…

"ACCCCHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

hyesung's eyes shot wide open and took a little jump backwards. He looked up and saw kei covering her mouth with her hand.

Kei, who had her eyes closed, opened her left eye and looked sheepishly at hyesung.

"oops, that was unexpected," kei said, her voice muffled behind her hand.

Hyesung smiled. "yeah it kinda was."

Kei took her hand away and wiped it with a kleenex she took from the bedside table.

"are you oki?" hyesung asked, concerned.

Kei looked up at hyesung. She nodded. "I'm fine."

"really? You look kinda pale…" hyesung said, reaching out for her forehead.

Kei backed away. "I'm fine, really. I'm just a little tired from everything yesterday."

"I see…"

"umm… I think I should get going. I still need to go see soo yung."

"soo yung?"

"she fainted yesterday. She was overwhelmed by the everything yesterday."

"what happened yesterday? Is there something I don't know?"

"sigh… how about I tell you when you're out of the hospital? I'm feel totally drained now."

hyesung gazed at her, and finally nodded. "oki. I think we need to talk anywayz."

Kei shifted uncomfortably. "I'll, um, I'll see you around." She turned around and headed for the door.

"see you, kei," hyesung replied, an uncomfortable and tense tone in his voice.

Kei stopped in her tracks and turned around. She looked at hyesung. A slow smile spread across her face.

"since when did start calling me kei?"

hyesung looked at kei, confused. "what? That's your name, right?"

"yeah…but ever since we first met, you usually called me keikei." Without waiting for hyesung to respond, kei turned and walked out of the room.

Hyesung raised one eyebrow.

"eh? That was totally random…" he muttered. But then, he smiled. For some reason, he had a feeling that kei said that to make it so that she would leave his room in a light atmosphere.

"yes, if that's what you want…keikei…"

kei met up with eric who was standing near the doorway and they made their way to soo yung's room. kei thought back to what happened back in hyesung's room with her utterly 'romantic' and 'graceful' sneeze. Kei smiled to herself, refraining from laughing out loud.

"what's so amusing?" eric asked.

"nothing at all," kei said, still smiling.

They finally reached soo yung's room, the door being open. Kei stepped inside, and found that soo yung wasn't the only one in the room.

"andy!" kei said, finding him standing next to soo yung's bed.

"hey kei!" andy greeted back, waving. "oh hey eric, you're here too."

Kei smiled and walked into the room with eric following behind her. "hey you're here. How's soo yu—" kei stopped in mid-sentence when she spotted another person in the room.

"dongwan…"

"kei…" he whispered.

a pair of tired and sad eyes looked back at kei. It seemed like forever since she had seen dongwan's eyes, and they now looked completely different. They weren't the same happy and bright eyes that she knew, that she loved before.

"k…kei?" a soft voice said.

Kei turned and saw soo yung looking up at her from the hospital bed. Kei smiled. "hey tough girl. You're awake."

"hey, don't make fun of me. so I fainted yesterday, don't have to clown me about it," soo yung defended herself light-heartedly.

Kei laughed. "oki oki. So how do you feel now?"

"much better. Andy just told me that minwoo's oki and the car's not stolen."

Kei had to keep herself from laughing out loud. She shyly looked over at dongwan to see his facial expression at hearing how his car was thought to be stolen. Dongwan's eyes showed no apparent change of expression, however, they were still fixed on kei. Kei pursed her lips together in contemplation. She then relaxed them and turned to soo yung.

"well, as long as you're oki, then I'm at ease. Um, I'm going to step out of the room for a minute, oki?"

soo yung nodded. "oki."

Kei turned around and walked up to dongwan. she looked at him in the eyes.

"come with me," she softly said. She lightly took his arm and led him out of the room with her.

"dun dun dun!" andy chanted once kei and dongwan were out of earshot.

"andy!" soo yung said.

"what? I don't know what's going on between those two, but I know whatever it is, it does not look pretty."

"what's going on with kei and dongwan? is something wrong?" soo yung asked.

"is something wrong? Oh, do I have a story to tell you," andy said, a mischievous grin on his face…

chapter 54

dongwan and kei found a spot in the hospital where there weren't as many people walking and lounging around. Kei led dongwan next to a large window. She let go of his arm and stared out the window.

"how have you been?" kei asked.

Dongwan didn't answer. He had his gaze on the ground before him.

Kei turned to dongwan and looked at his pale face. it had only been 2 days since she'd seen him, yet the face that stood before her now seemed totally different than the face she was used to seeing. The happy, bright, energetic face was now a tired and dispirited complexion. Kei saddened at this transformation.

"you cut your hair," dongwan finally stated.

Kei looked up at dongwan. "uh…oh, yeah. I just got it cut yesterday. I, uh…wanted a change…in…appearance…"

"I see…"

"look…dongwan, I know that….i know that some things have happened during these past few days and it's been hard for the both of us. And…this is hard for me to say… but I have to say it…" kei bore her eyes into dongwan. "…i…i…" she started to choke.

"kei…I know…I know that you want to break it off. I regret having you see what you saw that night in the office. I wish you didn't see it, and I wish that it never happened. But…it did…and I'm sorry… and…seeing you that night with hyesung… it…it hurt me…that you never told me that you had him at your place…"

"he got beat up. I found him on the street and took him home to take care of him," kei explained.

"I know, I know. Andy told me this morning before we came to the hospital. But… you know…seeing hyesung in your room…it scared me…"

"scared you?"

"I don't know why it scared me…but…it did. Cuz I felt that…that you would leave me…"

kei looked at dongwan with questioning eyes and asked cautiously, "I don't understand, dongwan. I live with eric and junjin, who are both guys. How come you were never paranoid about them? Why now, with hyesung?"

"I don't know why…" dongwan ran his hands through his hair. "I just felt that… that he would be a threat…I can't explain why I have this feeling… I hate myself for it…" dongwan sighed and looked into kei's eyes. "kei…please…" dongwan took kei's hand into his. "don't…don't leave…me…"

kei bit her lower lip. "dongwan…" kei wanted to tell dongwan that his presumption was wrong, that there was nothing about hyesung he should be scared of, that she wouldn't leave him…

…but it would feel wrong…and selfish…

kei lightly pulled her hand out of dongwan's grasp. Kei looked away from dongwan's sad eyes.

"i…I'm…sorry, dongwan…"

dongwan closed his eyes and faced the window, turning away from kei.

"…it…it's not because I don't love you, dongwan…because you are actually the one who opened me up, cracked me out of my shell, and showed me how to love. You've done so much for me…and…and I don't know what I can do to repay you… because…I don't feel worthy of your love…

"I want you to understand that I don't want to be with you not cuz I don't want to, but cuz I feel I shouldn't. I shouldn't be with you, not cuz of what you did that night in the office with sara, but cuz i…my feelings…I'm really confused now."

Dongwan turned and looked at kei. "confused?"

"……dongwan…I'm really overwhelmed now…with everything…and…I don't think I'm being a very good girlfriend—"

"that's for me to determine," dongwan interrupted. "you're not being a bad girlfriend. You couldn't be any better."

"but I don't feel that way about myself."

Dongwan stared at kei. "you like hyesung, don't you?"

Kei froze.

Dongwan noticed kei tense up at his question, and he turned facing the window again. He rested his hands on the windowpane and leaned upon them.

"I was never paranoid about you being around other guys. I didn't want to overprotective of you. I trusted you, that's why I never worried when you were with other guys, nor did I worry that you lived with two single guys.

You were always a nice person, nice to everyone. hyesung was a jerk to you before, but you just took the insults. You even rescued him. you're that kind of person. Understanding, forgiving and forgetting, never holding any grudges. I know that. That's why I love you. but…that night…when you rushed into the room to help hyesung, I saw it in your eyes, heard it in your voice…that…the one in your heart… is…not…me…"

kei's eyes quickly moistened when she heard dongwan voice his words slowly, one by one. Her heart was wrenching inside, tearing at the fact that dongwan was saying that he wasn't the one in her heart… and it hurt that she couldn't deny it… completely…

"dongwan…you will always remain in my heart…though my emotions are very jumbled right now, I know this is true… you are a very special person to me, and I will never forget that. I just want some time to myself, to relax, to sort out my emotions." Kei looked up into dongwan's eyes with her own sincere eyes.

Dongwan looked into kei's eyes, his lips set in a firm line, his eyes sad. He then slipped his arms around kei and gave her a tight hug.

"if you need time to yourself, I will grant you that time. Just keep in mind that I will always love you, and I will not give you up, no matter who I'm fighting against," dongwan whispered in her ear. He kissed her on the cheek, and then released her from the hug. He spun on his heel and walked back to soo yung's room, leaving kei standing alone next to the window.

It was when he was gone that tears finally spilled out of kei's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, dongwan. I'm so sorry I hurt you…" she whispered inaudibly.

"you guys back?"

junjin came out of the hallway wiping his wet hair with a towel. kei and eric shut the front door behind them as they let themselves back into the apartment, returning from the hospital.

"so, is hav-fung oki?" junjin asked.

Eric sauntered into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the refridgerator. Kei nodded to junjin.

"hyesung's oki. He's being released tomorrow from the hospital."

"that's good…good…uh…is he…um…coming back here or going back to his dorm?" junjing asked.

Kei gave a faint smile. "he's going to go back to his dorms. You don't have to sleep on the couch anymore, oki?"

junjin continued to whipe his hair. "I…wasn't…asking…cuz…of…that…" he said, trailing off. He turned his back to kei and breathed a sigh of relief.

Kei nodded. "oki. I'm going to go to my room now. I'm very tired," she said, her voice even softer and groggier.

"what? You're tired? You slept for the whole day yesterday and you're tired?" junjin asked. He then noticed that kei's eyes halfway closed and she was unsteady as she stood. "whoa, are you oki kei?"

"I'm…fine…I'm…gonna…go..to…" kei turned towards the hallway, but as she took her first step, her knees buckled and she fell. Junjin reflexively dove and caught kei before she hit the ground.

"oi, kei, are you oki? Talk to me girl!" junjin said.

Eric hurried out of the kitchen and walked over to kei. "what happened?"

"I don't know. One minute she was standing, talking all slow and tired and everything. Next thing I know, she collapsed."

Eric scrunched his eyebrows. He then felt her forehead.

"gosh, she's burning. Take her to her room now." eric got up and disappeared into the hallway.

"yes sir, sergeant eric sir." Junjin stood up, carrying kei in his arms, and walked into the hallway to kei's room. he placed her in her bed and covered her with her blanket.

Eric came back into the room with a wet and hot washcloth. He folded it and placed it on her forehead. He turned to junjin.

"junjin, I'm going to go buy some medicine. Looks like she has the flu. You stay her and watch her."

"aite."

Eric rushed out of the room.

Junjin turned back to kei, he patted at the damp washcloth on her head and brushed a strand of her highlighted hair out of her face. he smiled.

"but your hair's so nice and long and dark. You said you wanted to get some highlights too?"

"yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"nothing. Just that now you won't look like the quiet innocent kei anymore. you'll look so much more ghetto."

"junjin, if I remember correctly, half the girls you hit on have short hair and just about all of them have dyed hair."

"yeah, but that's different though. this is our KEI here. She's not supposed to be like the girls that I hit on. she's much more special than that."

"you look very nice. Not as innocent anymore, but so much more mature. If I didn't know any better, I'd make a move on you now."

"that's very flattering junjin. I like your hair too…even if it was a guy that cut and bleached it instead of a pretty lady."

Junjin grred. "oh well. I guess that sandy guy did do a good job."

Junjin smiled at the reminiscence of the salon trip.

"it's true, kei. You are more special than other girls…"

hyesung looked up at the clock. 4:51pm.

"doesn't look like keikei's coming today," hyesung muttered to himself, a little disappointed. He had dressed himself back in the clothes that he wore to the hospital the day before, eric's clothes. He reached under the shirt and felt his bumps and bruises on his body.

"to think that if keikei didn't see me that day, I woulda been left in the street like trash…" hyesung narrowed his eyes. "kangta…constantly putting up a front of being mr. Perfect, star student, the sought after guy of girls…when underneath he's monster worse than the hospital food here." He closed his eyes and forced the image of kangta's face out of his mind. Hyesung opened his eyes.

"I should go see minwoo. What happened in the past is the past. Can't be mad at him for something between him, soo yung, and kei. Hmmm…didn't kei say that soo yung was in the hospital too? Wonder if she's still here." Hyesung walked out of the hospital room.

hyesung walked up to a desk on his floor to ask a nurse where soo yung's room was. he saw a girl at the desk already asking the nurse a question.

"I'd like to know the room number of shin hyesung," hyesung heard the girl ask when he was within earshot. His ears perked up. He walked up to the girl and tapped her on the shoulder.

Soo yung turned around and saw hyesung standing behind her. she turned back around and said to the nurse, "never mind. I found him." the nurse then returned to what she was doing.

Soo yung turned around and gave hyesung a hug. "oh my gosh, are you alright hyesung? You scared me so much when I saw all those bruises on you. you still look like a dalmatian, but much better than before."

"gee thanks soo yung. I like how you just uplifted my impression of my appearance. It's not like I wanted to be like a punching bag."

"I'm sorry. I just never knew that kangta woulda been so violent."

"well, now we know. I wonder how many other people he's beat the lights out of besides me. he was lucky I couldn't counter. I hit my head so I couldn't even see. My head still hurts."

"aww…my poor hyesung."

Hyesung raised one eyebrow at soo yung. "you were never so caring about me before. Especially two days ago when instant you realized that kangta and minwoo were in the same building."

"oh I'm sorry hyesung. It's just that after hearing what kangta did to you, I freaked when I realized that kangta could do the same to minwoo. If it makes you feel any better, I was running all over town to find you. When I found out you were hurt, I really freaked out too. I was so worried."

"thanks. I know I know. I'm just messing with you. you try to act tough all the time, but in reality you're just a worrywart."

"hey! I resent that." Soo yung slapped him on the shoulder.

"aish, that hurt. I'm kidding. don't have to be so violent. So, you're back with minwoo again?"

soo yung smiled, half dreamily and half sheepishly. "yeah, I think so. I'm not so…sure…tho…" she trailed off realizing that she was talking to hyesung, whom she knew had feelings for her too. She looked up at him with regretful eyes.

Hyesung smiled. He knew what she was thinking by how she looked at him, but he ignored it. "hey, let's go find minwoo. He's the main reason why we came here in the first place."

They found out minwoo's new room number and walked to the room. they opened the door and peered inside. Minwoo was sleeping in his bed.

Soo yung smiled to herself at the sight of minwoo sleeping. She tiptoed quietly into the room, careful not to wake him up…

SLAM!

Soo yung jumped in fright. She then turned around. "hyesung!" she hissed.

Hyesung looked at her with a 'innocent' look. "what?"

"he's sleeping! Why'd you slam the door!"

"soo yung? hyesung?" a soft voice said. Soo yung turned around and saw minwoo awake in bed.

"minwoo," she greeted. She walked up to the bed and sat down in the chair.

"hey, you guys are oki," minwoo said.

Hyesung walked up next to the bed. "see, he's awake."

Soo yung glared at hyesung. "thanks to you-know-who."

Hyesung shrugged and smiled.

Minwoo laughed. "glad to see you guys again. so you guys don't have to be in the hospital anymore?"

Soo yung shook her head. "we're both fine now."

"you sure? What happened to you hyesung? You sure you don't need to stay in the hospital? You look like some rabid animals attacked you or something."

"you're not totally wrong. I did have an animal attack me. an animal named kangta."

"kangta?" minwoo asked. "who's kangta? The name sounds kinda familiar…"

"don't worry about it, minwoo," soo yung said. "It's just a stupid idiot we know."

"I see. Why did he attack you, hyesung?"

hyesung nodded over to soo yung. "he thought I was her boyfriend, so he tried to threaten me. he beat me when I couldn't counter. I hit my head, so at the time I couldn't tell which of the 4 kangtas I was seeing to hit."

"man, that's dirty," minwoo said.

Soo yung took minwoo's hand into her two hands. "that's why I'm worried about you. if he ever finds out that you're my real boyfriend, he'll come after you. I'm even more afraid that he already did, since I slipped and told him that my boyfriend was in the hospital."

Minwoo had a questioning look. "you know…it's funny you say that…"

Soo yung's eyes widened. "what? He came after you already!"

"no…well, I dunno…I'm not sure…but something weird happened yesterday."

"what happened?" hyesung asked.

"I don't know…I don't know if it was cuz of side effects from my shots making me see things or whatever…but then nothing like this ever happened before when I got my shots. Umm…after my shots yesterday, I was out and I don't remember everything, but I do remember being wheeled somewhere, sudden pains in my stomach and chest, like something hitting me, and voices…"

soo yung looked confused. "voices?"

minwoo squinted his eyes, trying to remember. "yeah…well, I heard two voices. The first one wasn't that clear, but it sounded like a guy and he was shouting a lot. And then…the other one… was a much softer voice…like a girl's…and I remember her saying, 'minwoo…come on, I'm getting you outta here'…and you know…the weird thing is…"

"is what?" soo yung asked.

Minwoo looked up at soo yung and hyesung. "…it sounded like kei."

Soo yung's and hyesung's eyes widened. "like kei?" hyesung asked, surprised.

Minwoo nodded. "I asked her yesterday if it was her, but she never answered my question. and she hasn't come by today, so I haven't been able to ask her again about it."

"yeah I know…I was kinda expecting kei to come by today too, especially since me and hyesung are being discharged from the hospital and all," soo yung said.

"is she too busy or something? Or just plain forgot about us?" hyesung mentioned.

"no…she said she would come today," minwoo said.

"and kei's not the type to forget promises. She wouldn't forget us, would she?" soo yung said.

"mmmm…we don't all exactly share a pretty history…" hyesung mumbled.

The three fell silent. So far they had been able to converse freely without any conscious recollecting of their awkward past. Now that it was mentioned, uneasiness settled upon the three and talking seemed uncomfortable to do. Soo yung consciously squeezed minwoo's hand. Minwoo felt soo yung hold his hand tighter, and he held hers.

"no soo yung," he said softly. "I won't leave you again."

Soo yung smiled in relief. She then looked up at hyesung and saw him staring off into space, a worried look on his face.

"hyesung?" she asked.

"I have to talk to kei," hyesung said.

Minwoo sighed. "I think all three of us have to talk to her. we're all connected by her. I have to know if it was really her yesterday or not. If it was her…whatever happened yesterday to me…i…I think she saved me from it…"

Just like me, hyesung thought to himself. Just like how she saved me.

"do you guys know what her home number is now?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung shook her head. "I only went to her place once."

"hyesung?"

"I was there for a few days, but I was in bed all the time. I didn't get her home number," hyesung said, still staring off into space.

"hmmm…I don't remember how to get to her place. Andy drove at the time."

"andy? Who's andy?" minwoo asked.

"dongwan's roommate. He's friends with the two guys kei lives with," soo yung explained.

"why don't we call him up?" minwoo asked.

"I don't know his number either," soo yung said.

Minwoo made a frustrated look. "gosh. Where is kei when we need her?"

She's here when we need her the most, to save our lives…that's where she is…

"how's kei?" eric asked.

"she's asleep now. she still has a fever though," junjin said as he walked out of the hallway and sat down next to eric on the living room couch. "what are you doing now?"

eric didn't answer.

A sudden hissing sound came from the kitchen. Junjin looked over his shoulder towards the kitchen. Eric got up from his seat and disappeared into the kitchen. Soon the hissing sound stopped. Eric walked back out of the kitchen holding a towel.

"what was that?" junjin asked.

"…chicken soup…" eric simply answered.

"chicken soup? You made chicken soup?"

eric began to wipe his hands on the towel. "yeah. It's for kei's flu."

"whoa…" junjin looked up at eric with wide eyes. Junjin then looked away, a sad frown settling upon his mouth.

Eric looked at junjin. "what's up with you?"

"huh? Oh, nothing…just that I feel kinda……useless…"

"useless?" eric ceased wiping his hands.

"I mean… man…I claim to be a lady's man, thinking that I know how to treat women well and everything…but…kei's sick with a flu and I don't even know what to do…and…it kinda just makes me think…about if I really do settle down with a girl or married or something, and something like this happens…would I know what to do? Do I really know how to treat girls well, or am I just blowing hot air?"

"you're always blowing hot air," eric simply stated.

Junjin glared at eric. "geez eric, just shoot me while I'm down. I'm pouring my feelings out to you and you show no sympathy."

"dang. When did you get all delicate and soft?"

junjn rested his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together and stared before him. "I don't know. I just started thinking all of the sudden."

"……it's kei, isn't it?"

junjin didn't answer right away. "….I don't know if it is. I guess it could be. I guess this whole living with a girl thing softened me up, huh?"

eric didn't respond. He continued to look at junjin from where he stood.

Junjin turned around in his seat and looked at eric. "do you think I like kei?" junjin asked.

Eric showed no apparent reaction. His gaze remained on junjin.

Junjin turned back around and stared before him again. "I mean…I never really seriously liked anyone before, so I don't really know how liking someone feels like. I mean, I know when I like a girl cuz she's attractive or something. Kei, well, she may not be hot, but she's…she's…different? Attractive in a different way? I dunno the exact word…"

"…I dunno what to say junjin," eric blandly stated.

"weird, huh? I've always been with all these different girls from different places, but I end up liking kei."

"….ironic, huh?"

"tell me about it." Junjin sighed. He rubbed his hand over his shaved head. "what about you, eric? Do you like kei?" junjin waited for an answer, but received none. Junjin turned around and found that eric was no longer in the living room.

"eh? When did he leave? Man, I must be losing it…" junjin leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.

The next morning…

Junjin walked out of his room and stretched. He walked down the hallway and heard some noise in the kitchen. He walked to the kitchen.

"ANDY!" junjin shouted.

Andy, standing over the stove, turned around and looked at junjin with his eyes wide and his mouth full.

"mmm oh," andy sounded with his mouth still full, his cheeks round.

"oh man, eric's going to kill you," junjin said.

Andy managed to swallow the food in his mouth. "why? This chicken soup is good! Did kei make this?" he scooped another scoop with the ladle. He was drinking the soup straight out of the pot.

"no…actually er—"

"ANDY!" a loud bellow sounded.

"—ric made it…for kei…"

"uh oh…" andy whimpered.

Eric rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the ladle out of andy's hand. "geez andy, what do you think this is, all-you-can-eat? Just help yourself to whatever there is?"

"there was only soup though."

Eric glared at andy.

Andy cowered away. "eeep! Save me junjin!" andy ran and hid behind junjin.

Eric shook his head and started to stir the soup.

"…if it makes you feel any better, it tastes real good," andy said timidly.

Eric simply grunted. He prepared one bowl of soup and left the kitchen with it. As eric passed by, andy rounded junjin on the other side, still shielding himself from eric.

Once eric left the kitchen, andy stood up straight from behind junjin. "dang, what's with him?"

"that soup was for kei. Kei's sick."

"she is? hmmm…actually that makes sense. She was real tired the day before and yesterday she looked real pale."

"you were at the hospital yesterday?"

"yeah, I went to go see her friend soo yung."

"soo yung? why'd you go see her?"

"why not? Can't I see her as a friend?"

"yeah I guess."

"she is pretty though."

"really? I'm surprised you didn't try to hit on her."

"naw. I took her, kei, and hyesung to the hospital the day before to go look for her boyfriend. I know when a girl's off limits."

"wow. I'm surprised at your maturity about this, andy. You seem to be growing up."

Andy sheepishly grinned. "actually, if you want to know the truth, I asked soo yung yesterday if she had a sister that was single or something."

Junjin shook his head. "never mind. That sounds more like my man andy."

"I'm tempted to go eat more of that chicken soup, but I guess I should go ask eric the reason why he called me here." Andy and junjin then headed to kei's room.

eric was inside kei's room, standing beside the bed, where kei was sleeping soundly. Kei's face lost a lot of color, and her lips were pale.

"whoa, she really is sick," andy said.

"that's exactly the reason why I called you over, andy," eric said in a monotone voice. "I need you to watch over her while me and junjin go to work. Can you do that?"

andy nodded. "sure. I don't have anything to do today."

"you think boss would be willing to let us off early?" junjin asked eric.

Eric looked at junjin. "that was exactly what I was gonna boss today."

"aite."

"we better get going." eric looked to andy. "if anything happens, just page me, oki?"

andy nodded.

"and don't drink the soup. That's for kei when she wakes up," eric instructed.

"yeah, I learned my lesson."

Eric gave andy one more warning glare and he and junjin then left the room.

andy walked over and sat down on the side of the bed, looking down at the sleeping kei. He then glanced over and saw the bowl with an upside down plate on top was placed on the bedsider dresser. Andy walked over and lifted the plate. The aroma of chicken soup tickled his nose. Andy breathed in and let out a dreamy sigh.

"who knew that eric became all gramma-y and made good chicken soup?" andy mumbled to himself. He glanced at kei and then back to the chicken soup. He then took the bowl and tipped it to his lips, taking a small sip of the soup. He then placed the bowl back to its place.

"ahhhh…good stuff. I dun think kei will miss a little bit from her bowl." He looked over kei. "she doesn't look like she's gonna wake up anytime soon." Andy glanced over to her desk. "I'll just surf the net for a bit…" he made his way across the way, sat down at the desk, and booted up the computer.

"hyesung! What a pleasant surprise! I'm glad to have you back," professor jo said. "are you feeling oki? Wow, what happened? Did you hurt yourself? I thought you were just sick."

"oh…yeah, I fell out of bed a few days ago and got these bruises," hyesung said, trying to explain the healing bruises on his face. he thought back to when he really DID roll out of kei's bed. That hurt too…

"I see. Those dormitory beds just aren't the same as beds at home, are they? Too narrow to sleep on."

"yeah I guess."

"well, there's nothing much to do today. The students are still working on their compositions which are now due another 4 more days. So if anyone asks for help today you give it to them, oki?"

hyesung nodded.

"glad to have you back."

Hyesung took his normal seat at the front corner of the room. he opened his bookbag and pulled out a notebook and a pen, but he made no notion to write in it right away as he usually did. He looked up in the room and scanned the faces.

Where's kei? He thought to himself. Is she going to be here today? Late?

"class," professor jo said facing the class. "as you all know, the due date for the compositions is coming up. You may come and ask me about last minute stuff, or now that hyesung is back, you may ask him questions and have him help out with anything if needed also. Otherwise, you have 4 days left to finish. Good luck." Professor jo then walked back to the front podium. Some students stood up and approached the professor with questions, while the rest of the class remained at their seats…

as the hour passed, hyesung kept a lookout for kei, expecting her to come in through the back door. But the door never even cracked open.

Where is she? It's not like her to miss class. Hyesung then thought back to two days ago when kei visited him in the hospital. How she was surprised when he said that she was his savior. How nervous she was when he was getting closer to her to kiss her. how embarrassed she was when she sneezed.

Hyesung smirked to himself as he thought of the look on kei's face when she had sneezed. He shook his head.

"that was such a romantic moment," he muttered to himself, smiling. He then picked up his pen and opened his notebook.

Andy yawned and stretched his arms over his head. He blinked his eyes that were dry from staring at the screen for the past hour. He glanced over his shoulder at kei, who was still asleep in bed. Andy sighed. He then returned to the screen.

"hmmm…what does kei have on here. What, no starcraft? That's outrageous! How can you have a computer and not have starcraft! That's blasphemy! Man…what else does she have on here…hmmm…let's listen to some music…"

click.

Winamp popped up, and andy looked at her songlist. Only one song was on the list.

"eh? I've never heard of this before…" andy moved the cursor over the song name and double clicked it.

The song loaded, and a soft melody played from the computer speakers. There were no vocals. The file was mainly a piano melody with some occasional back up notes of other instruments.

"what is this song, off a soundtrack? I've never heard this song before. It sounds… so depressing…but nice…" andy continued to listen to the sound file. The song finished and repeated, and andy made no notion to turn it off. The song kept playing as andy proceeded to play on the computer.

"gotta ask kei what soundtrack she got this song from."

"soo yung, you're back! What happened? I thought you dropped off the face of the earth or something," raymond said as he looked up from the desk.

"I'm sorry raymond. I know that I said that I was going to be back yesterday, but I didn't come. I was in the hospital yesterday—"

"what, you were in the hospital yesterday? Are you oki?"

"oh no I'm fine. It's just that I fainted from overexhaustion the day before and a friend just brought me to the hospital. I'm fine now."

"overexhaustion? Am I making you work to hard, soo yung?"

"oh no, it's not that. It's not too much work here. It's just that, well, a couple of days ago I was just, uh, running all over the place and was really stressed out."

"I see. Well, are you oki now? you don't need another day off?"

"oh no, I'm fine. I already took yesterday off when it was fully booked. I don't think I should take another day off."

"it's fine."

Soo yung shook her head. "I'm ready to work."

"hahahaha. Well, if you insist. I do have a lot of work we have to catch up on. let's go, I need your help on—"

"soo yung! you're back at work!" a voice called out.

soo yung cringed. No…not him… she slowly turned around and saw kangta saunter into the store with a wide grin on his face. an evil grin… soo yung thought to herself.

"hello chilhyun. I guess you're lucky today," raymond said to his nephew.

Kangta walked up to soo yung, still grinning from ear to ear. "glad to see you back. I thought you were still hiding out at the hospital or something. Then I would have had to go to the hospital to look for you."

"even if I wanted to hide from you, I wouldn't hide at the hospital since your father works there."

"ahh, so you know that my brother is a doctor at the hospital," raymond commented.

"how's your boyfriend?" kangta asked.

Soo yung jumped a little at kangta's question, but then she calmed herself down. She breathed in deeply and let a fake smile spread across her face. "he's JUST fine."

"that's good to hear," kangta said calmly.

"yeah I know huh? I mean, since he's much better, I will be able to spend more time with him. why do I want to spend more time with him? because I love him. because the love I have for him is love that I cannot give anyone else," soo yung said in a hear-me-now-so-take-a-hint tone.

"that's very nice to hear," kangta said, still in a calm tone.

Soo yung smiled, satisfied that she made her point. "now if you'll excuse me, I have to work." Without hesitation, she walked into the backroom, leaving both raymond and kangta outside.

Raymond turned to his nephew. "I think she's trying to tell you something, chilhyun."

Kangta shrugged to his uncle. "mebbe." Kangta then turned his gaze to the door again and smirked.

Chapter 56

the moon was full and round and it showed off its beauty over the dark skies. A mirror reflection of the moon shone from the waters below as waves gently tickled the image. The boat rocked ever so gently as kei stood upon the deck. She glanced down and found herself dressed in a dark blue gown, a blue that blended in with the night setting. Her short hair was pinned up loosely on top of her head with soft tendrils framing her face. kei knew not where she was, but somehow, she felt at home. She felt warm, comfortable, relaxed. Serene.

Light footsteps from behind made kei turn around. She looked behind her and her eyes fell upon a man dressed in a completely white tuxedo. White tux, white shirt, white tie, white gloves, and white shoes. The stranger was wearing a white fedora on his head which covered his eyes. In his hand, he held a solitary short-stemmed blue rose. Kei squinted her eyes to see who the stranger was, but in the dark night, she could not make out who it was.

The stranger approached her, his eyes still hidden. Kei spotted pale white skin underneath the hat, and a shiver shot down her spine. Oh my gosh…it's…

At that instant, the mysterious stanger reached up and lifted his hat off, revealing himself.

Hyesung…

A light glowed from him. the complete white attire along with his pale face and blonde hair seemed to radiated light in kei's eyes. Hyesung slowly raised the white rose up to his nose. He then took the rose and stuck it in kei's hair over her right ear. His hand then trailed down from her ear along the curve of her neck and skimmed across her bare exposed shoulder. Kei shivered at his slight touch.

Hyesung's hand then trailed down to her hand and he took her hand into his. His other hand then reached around to her back and brought kei's in body close to his. At the instant hyesung's eyes slowly closed. As he opened them, kei spotted a glow in his eyes.

The sight took kei's breath away.

The glow in hyesung's eyes brightened and a soft melody flowed into the air. Kei's eyes widened at the melody.

That's my composition…

"dance with me…" hyesung whispered into her ear.

Kei shivered at hyesung's breath whisking at her ear. Without saying her answer, she slowly moved with him to the music.

Kei closed her eyes. For the first time, she felt complete. She felt a hole within hersef filled. At that moment, she felt free. She opened her eyes and almost gasped as she saw soft glows floating around her, like fireflies. The beauty of the vision stunned her and tears formed in her eyes.

"why are you crying?" hyesung whispered in her ear.

"I'm…I feel so happy now," kei whispered.

"don't cry. Your eyes are too beautiful for tears."

Kei nodded and tried to blink back her tears. She then closed her eyes again and rested her head upon hyesung's shoulder.

Hyesung held his lips near kei's ear. "you are as mysterious as the dark of night… and I want to be the moon, to be your light… come to me… come to me… come to me…" the music then abruptly stopped and hyesung's voice began to fade away.

Kei's eyes shot open. Darkness filled her vision, and she no longer saw hyesung or the beautiful night. it was as if he had disappeared out of nowhere.

"hyesung?" kei asked into the empty darkness. She turned around. "hyesung?"

darkness. Complete utter darkness.

Confusion, loneliness, and cold overtook her body. she felt herself become heavier and heavier with unknown weight. She wrapped her arms around herself and dropped to her knees. Now, there were no tears of happiness in her eyes. Instead, tears of sadness spilled out of her cheeks.

"why did you leave me? why hyesung?"

kei screamed.

"whoa, kei, kei!" a voice cried.

Kei's eyes opened as she found herself in her own room, in her own bed. She stopped screaming and started gasping for breath.

"geez, I thought you were having a heart attack," andy's voice said. "are you oki kei? You were screaming really loud. Oh my gosh, you're crying too! Your face is wet!"

kei looked over to her left and saw andy looking down at her. pain shot through her head and her whole body felt weighed down. Her muscles seemed to have gained 10 times its normal weight.

Andy took a small towel and started to wipe kei's face. "there there. It was just a nightmare. Mr. Ugly green red-eyed monster won't after you anymore. do you get those nightmares too? Gosh he scares me."

Kei continued to pant for breath. She coughed a few times and then finally began to settle and calm down.

Andy let out a sight of relief. "gosh, you really gave me a care there kei. Please don't do that to me again."

"…don't…don't leave…me…" kei said almost inaudibly.

"what? What was that?" andy asked again, leaning his ear down to hear her.

"don't leave me…"

"don't leave you? don't be silly, why would I leave you? you're sick! Eric and junjin would roast my hide if I left! Besides, your room is cool! You got a lot of nifty stuff he—" andy cut himself off when he felt kei abruptly grabbed his hand. Andy looked at kei, shocked.

"…don't leave me…"

andy sighed. "don't worry, I won't leave you. I'll stay right here." Andy gripped onto kei's hand.

Kei's whispering faded away as she slowly fell asleep.

Hyesung walked out of the classroom. He raised his face to the bright sunlight shining down upon him. the warm light was refreshing, yet hyesung felt somewhat cold inside.

Kei didn't come at all…that's so unlike her…

Hyesung sighed. He looked at his watch.

Hmmmm…is there something I have to do today? Wait…I should…

Hyesung adjusted his bookbag over his shoulder. He then walked in the opposite direction of his dorm.

Minwoo stared out of the window. the outdoor breeze blew through the open window, blowing at minwoo's bangs. He squinted at the wind and inhaled.

"you can get outta bed now?" a voice asked.

Minwoo turned to the door and saw hyesung coming into the room. "hey hyesung," minwoo greeted.

Hyesung walked over to the window next to minwoo. "nice day out, huh?"

"yeah…I kinda wanna go outside now. been cooped up in hospital rooms for too long."

"wanna go take a walk then? I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about something."

minwoo looked up at hyesung. He smiled and then nodded. They both walked out of the room. after informing a nurse of their whereabouts, they walked outside the hospital to the grassy area behind the hospital.

They found a bench and sat down. They sat in silence, just observing the surroundings. It was a small area, and there weren't many people wandering around. There was a small flower garden off to the side and also a small recreational court where some little kids were playing basketball.

Finally, minwoo broke the silence. "so what did you want to talk about?"

Hyesung hesitated. He ran his hand through his hair and breathed a sigh.

"look…I…I know that all that's happened between the four of us…me, you, soo yung, and kei…can't exactly be considered smooth sailing…and…I guess that a lot of it kinda is my fault…or, at least, I made it a lil worse…well, a LOT worse…and…yeah…I know it's my bad…"

minwoo smiled. "heh…I guess that's the closest to an apology that I'm gonna get from ya, huh?"

hyesung smirked. "I guess, huh?"

minwoo leaned back on the bench and sighed. "well…a lot of it was my fault too…I mean…around the time of my breakup with soo yung, I was a mess. I was confused, and I was doubting my feelings for soo yung. but now…I know that she's the one for me."

hyesung looked to minwoo. "how come you started to doubt your feelings for soo yung?"

minwoo closed his eyes. "I dunno. mebbe I wasn't doubting my feelings for soo yung. but…my emotions about kei were kinda taking hold…I couldn't tell if it was romantic feelings for kei, and just, uh, I dunno, feelings. I guess I took it for romantic, and we saw how that turned out." minwoo opened his eyes. He then leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands before him. "I dunno…I was confused. Her best friend yoojin from high school had committed suicide, and I still blamed myself for it. I guess the guilt really got to me and I was desperate for kei to forgive me. I wanted kei to stop avoiding me, to be friends with me again. When she moved, I spent my last two years in high school pretty much alone. Kei was actually the only real close friend that I had in high school. Everyone knew me as the cause of yoojin's suicide, so I isolated myself from everyone. It was hard going to school, but I managed to pull through. I really missed kei. And seeing her again here at school made me real happy, but I was sad that she was afraid of me. gosh…it was really tearing me up inside, to have kei avoiding me like that. Even though I now realize that I don't like kei like I thought I did, I still think of her as a very special girl. kei may not be my girlfriend, but she is still very important to me." minwoo faced hyesung. "don't you feel the same?"

hyesung looked at minwoo, not answering his question.

Minwoo laughed. "did you know that I was so confused about my feelings towards kei that it was getting to the point where I was getting jealous of you?"

hyesung's eyes widened. "jealous…of me?"

"yeah. Kei would be so concerned about you sometimes. I was jealous cuz even when you were so mean to her, she would still approach you, while she would ignore me."

hyesung stayed silent.

Minwoo continued. "sigh. Kei's really a person, isn't she?"

"…yes, she is…" hyesung answered, looking away.

"how do you feel towards her?"

hyesung didn't answer. He stared off into space, his eyes narrowed.

"you change your attitude towards her so many times and so suddenly that you confuse me."

hyesung lowered his face. "i…i…"

minwoo waited. He looked at his companion, seeing that he was unable to answer. Minwoo then turned and laughed.

Hyesung looked up. "what's so funny?"

"admit it, hyesung. You like kei."

Hyesung didn't say anything.

"you not answering or shouting in my ear tells me that you like her. just admit it."

Hyesung fidgeted with his hands. "I dun really know if I do…" he whispered inaudibly.

"aww come on, what a wuss. You can't even admit that you like someone."

Hyesung turned to minwoo, a fist raised in the air. "what did you call me?"

"dude, you seriously want to get into another fight? You still look like you haven't recovered from your last fight."

Hyesung lowered his fist and straightened himself out. "don't call me a wuss."

"fine, wimp."

"prick."

"scrub."

"stupid."

"idiot."

"babo."

"dick."

"bigger than yours."

"in your dreams."

Minwoo laughed. He then held out his hand. Hyesung looked at the hand and then up at minwoo.

"friends?" minwoo asked.

Hyesung looked at minwoo. A faint smiled tugged at his lips and he took minwoo's hand into his.

"pals."

Minwoo smiled. They then broke their handshake and leaned back against the bench. Minwoo glanced down at hyesung's bookbag. "go to class today?"

hyesung nodded.

"you see kei there? Isn't she in your class?"

hyesung shook his head.

Minwoo knit his eyebrows. "weird. She seems to have disappeared. do you think something happened to her?"

Hyesung didn't know the answer.

Where are you kei?

"how is she, andy?"

andy looked up to find junjin walking into the room. "she's oki. She's asleep right now."

"that's good. Poor girl."

"she had a real bad nightmare though earlier today. Woke up screaming and crying and everything."

"really?"

"yeah…she looked really bad and freaked out…but she calmed down, and she's been sleeping for the past hour now."

"hmmm…"

eric came into the room. "hey andy. How's kei?"

"she's fine," andy answered.

Eric walked over and felt her forehead. "her fever's seems to have gone down at bit, but she's still warm. I don't think she'll be able to go to school for this week."

"yeah. She should stay home. I'll watch over her everyday," junjin said.

Eric looked up at junjin. "yeah right buddy. Remember that carl and steve aren't working this week? Me and you have to cover their shifts."

"oh yeah! Dang it. Then what's going to happen to kei?"

eric looked to andy.

Andy nodded. "I can come watch her everyday. Or just be in the house."

"thanks andy," eric said.

"just as long as you make some of that chicken soup for me. that stuff is good!" andy said, bouncing up at down in his chair and looking at eric with bright hopeful eyes.

eric sighed. "fine."

"yay!" andy clapped his hands.

"andy, you're such a kid," junjin said. "whatever unfortunate girl that ends up with you will have to take care of you instead of have you take care of her."

"hey, same would go for you too. You don't seem like the type to take good care of a girl too."

"hey!" junjin protested.

"what, it's true. Look at kei. I mean, you guys may not be going out with each other or anything, but she seems to be more like your mother than just an apartment mate. Can you just imagine when you do hook up with someone?" andy said in a light joking tone. He then noticed that junjin was not responding back. Inside, junjin lowered his head and silently walked out of the room. Andy looked up at eric. "what's wrong with him?"

Eric frowned at andy. "let's just say that that was not the best thing to say to him."

"why? I didn't think that he would get that offended. I expected him to not take it seriously, like usual."

"yeah…but junjin's just overly emotional now."

"really? Why?"

eric gave andy a look. Andy cowered away.

"sheesh eric, will you stop looking at me like that? You give me the creeps."

Eric continued to stare at andy. He then looked away. "come on, we need to give kei her medicine now…"

Few days later…

Hyesung splashed water onto his face and looked into the mirror before him. The giant bruises and cuts on his face were finally healing and were not as noticeable now. He wiped the water dripping down from his chin with the back of his hand and sighed.

"kangta…"

he took a paper towel and wiped his face with it. He then opened the bathroom door and stepped out.

As he stepped out, he saw two people come down the hallway.

"hey minwoo! You're out of the hospital," hyesung said.

Minwoo walked slowly with soo yung walking alongside him, holding his arm. Minwoo gave hyesung a faint smile.

"yeah. Figured that I should sleep in my own bed for now, though the movable bed was pretty cool."

"no, I'd rather have you here than in the hospital still," soo yung said.

Minwoo turned to soo yung and smiled. "me too. I'd rather have me here than in the hospital too."

Hyesung punched minwoo on the shoulder. "glad to have you back. Your stuff's still where it is since you left."

"glad to know that," minwoo said, letting out a small laugh.

"now, don't you ever go kill yourself like that again," soo yung scolded.

Minwoo did a little salute with his right hand. "yes ma'am."

"yes, listen to soo yung. Look at how worried she is about you," hyesung said.

Minwoo smiled. He reached over and brushed his finger on soo yung's chin. "I know." Minwoo then turned to hyesung. "what about you?"

"what about me?" hyesung asked, confused.

"are you still…worried?"

hyesung still looked confused, but then he understood. He nodded. "still missing."

A surprised look came across minwoo's face. "still hasn't showed up?"

Hyesung shook his head.

"missing?" soo yung asked, confused.

Hyesung looked at soo yung. He then quietly walked away down the hall and down the stairs.

Soo yung looked at minwoo, hoping to get an explanation. Minwoo shook his head.

"our buddy hyesung is worried over someone."

"worried over someone? Who?"

minwoo looked at soo yung. "who do you think?"

soo yung looked at minwoo with a questioning look.

Minwoo shook his head and let out a small laugh. "who woulda ever known that the one hyesung had scared away is the one he actually likes…"

Soo yung's eyes widened. "you mean…he likes…?"

minwoo nodded.

Soo yung eyes widened even more. "oh my gosh, are you for real? Serious?"

minwoo nodded. "serious. But he's worried now. Well, I'm worried too. Kei seems to have disappeared. She hasn't even gone to class."

"really? I wonder what happened…i…I hope she's oki…especially after…especially after all that's happened." Soo yung sighed. "I feel horrible now. When you broke up with me, I was so mad at kei too, but I shouldn't have been mad. It wasn't her fault. I'm so stupid."

Minwoo gently wrapped his arms around soo yung. "no you're not. When you're upset, stuff like that happens. It was all my fault. But now I won't ever do something stupid like that again, soo yung. The one for me is you."

Soo yung nodded against minwoo's chest.

"now if we can just find kei…" minwoo said.

Suddenly soo yung jerked against minwoo. She then abruptly pulled away. "I'm so stupid!"

"soo yung, we just went through this. You're not stu—"

"no, dongwan! dongwan should know where kei is!"

minwoo's eyes widened and a small smile spread across his face. "that's right! You know where his dorm room is, right?"

soo yung nodded. "but…should you go…?" soo yung asked, looking at minwoo, afraid of his weak state.

Minwoo shook his head. "I'm fine. Besides…I need to ask kei about that day…if it was her or not…something tells me it was her…if so…I have to thank her…"

Chapter 57

Hyesung continued to walk through the streets, wandering aimlessly with his mind filled with thoughts.

"admit it, hyesung. You like kei. you not answering or shouting in my ear tells me that you like her. just admit it."

"I dun really know if I do…"

"aww come on, what a wuss. You can't even admit that you like someone."

Mebbe I am a wuss… hyesung thought to himself. All my life, I've known myself to like only one person. Is it cuz I'm afraid of moving on? Hyesung continued walking, not watching where he was going.

"oof!"

hyesung stumbled back a few steps. He looked up to see who he ran into.

"hyesung!"

"prof. Jo…" hyesung said.

"my, I didn't think that I would bump into you here. Where are you doing back here?"

hyesung looked around and discovered that he had unknowingly walked back to the music building, into the piano lab. He looked at professor jo.

"did you have a question about something?" professor jo asked.

"not really…"

professor jo laughed. "well, oki then. I was just finishing up here. Just had my piano lab class. The students in there are catching onto the music real quickly." Professor jo straightened out a stack of papers and stood up. he turned and faced hyesung. "mebbe they'll all develop an interest in music like you, hyesung."

"thank you for the compliment, prof. Jo," hyesung silently said.

"by the way, I was wondering the other day. What do you plan to do in the future? Become a composer? You are talented when it comes to composing, especially at your age."

hyesung looked up at prof. Jo. "ummm…I wanted to start my own music company…" hyesung said quietly.

Professor jo raised his eyebrows. "start your own music company?"

Hyesung shyed away. "yeah…"

"that's a pretty big goal. Taking care of the business part?"

"I'm double majoring. business is my second major."

"mmm…I see. You know…if you're interested in working for a music company…I have a friend that works for one. One of those background people that don't mess with the actual music itself, but more of the technical stuff. I don't quite remember his position, but he's there." Professo jo then smiled at hyesung. "interested?"

hyesung looked up at professor jo with bright eyes. "r…re…really?"

professor jo laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. I'll give him a call tomorrow and I'll let you know about what he says. He can probably introduce an internship of some type for you."

"uhh…i…I don't know how to thank you…"

professor jo shook his head. "hyesung, this is my job. I'm supposed to be here to help out my students, especially ones as talented as you are. Who knows, you may become the next famous songwriter. I'd be pretty happy to know that I helped a songwriter raise to his full potential. I know your gift, hyesung. I see it. That's why I didn't choose to have a graduate student as my TA for my class this summer, I chose you, thought it's strange of me to do so. But…I don't think I made a mistake, am I wrong?"

hyesung stared at professor jo with surprised eyes. he then shook his head. "no prof. Jo. I enjoyed being your TA. I learned a lot, and it's been fun helping the students with their compositions."

Professor jo nodded. He then looked at the stack of papers before him. "hmmm…speaking of compositions…I have the class's compositions here with me also, but I haven't received lim kei's composition. In fact, I haven't seen her in class for the past week. That doesn't look good for kei. I know she's a good student, but if she doesn't turn in her composition, she's not going to get credit for this course."

Hyesung scrunched his eyebrows. Kei…

"do you happen to know where she is?"

hyesung shook his head. "no, I don't."

"hmmm…I figured that you may know, since she was the one to tell me that you weren't going to be coming to class when you were sick. And once you came back, kei didn't come. Hmmm…odd…"

odd indeed…where is kei?

"well, I have to go now. Did you want to stay for a while? I'll leave the room open and I'll lock the door from the outside. When you leave, just close the door, oki?"

hyesung nodded, and professor jo left the room.

Hyesung sat down at a piano and opened the cover. He lightly rubbed his fingers across the smooth ivory keys. He then placed his fingers in position…closed his eyes…and began to play…

The door slowly opened and dongwan peered out. He found soo yung and minwoo standing outside of his door.

"dongwan," soo yung said.

Dongwan didn't answer back. Soo yung had to restrain from gasping out loud. Dongwan's face had taken on a total transformation. His face was skinnier than before, his once bright eyes were now dark and sullen with huge dark bags underneath, and there was no cheerful smile anymore. Instead, a sad frown was plastered on his face…

"yeah?" he asked sullenly.

"ummm…are you oki dongwan? what's wrong? Why do you look so…so different?" soo yung asked, concerned.

Dongwan stared at soo yung blankly. "did you need something?"

"umm…we were wondering if you can tell us where kei lived," minwoo asked in a weak voice.

"kei?" dongwan blandly repeated.

Soo yung and minwoo looked at each other nervously. They didn't know what to make of dongwan's odd behavior.

"…kei…" dongwan repeated again.

"um dongwan? is…is something wrong?" soo yung timidly asked.

Dongwan shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just don't feel too good now."

"well, can you tell us where kei lives then? We need to talk to her, and she's disappeared or something."

"disappeared?" dongwan asked, looking at soo yung and minwoo confused.

"yeah. Hyesung said that she hasn't come to class for a whole week now. We're really worried. We really need to talk to her," soo yung explained.

"you don't think she's really gone like kidnapped or anything like that, do you?" dongwan asked, a growing concern building in his voice.

"we don't know. We thought that you would know what's up with kei. But since you don't, that's why we need to go see if she's home," soo yung explained.

"kei…" dongwan mumbled to himself, his eyes with slight disbelief.

"what's wrong dongwan? I've never seen you like this before. This is worse than when you visited me in the hospital the other day. Like when you and kei left the room to talk, afterwards you just left—"

"kei and I broke up," dongwan quietly but bluntly interrupted.

Minwoo's and soo yung's eyes widened. "what? Why?" soo yung asked in disbelief.

Dongwan looked away, not wanting to answer.

Soo yung's eyes became sad at looking at the heartbroken dongwan.

"dongwan…"

"OUTTA THE WAY! OUTTA THE WAY! LATE MAN COMING THROUGH!"

soo yung, minwoo, and dongwan looked up and found andy rushing down the hall with his hands full of shopping bags. He rushed into the room and threw the shopping bags onto his bed.

"andy!" soo yung exclaimed.

Andy looked up. "oh hey soo yung! Minwoo you're here too! I would ask what you guys are doing here, but I don't have time!"

"you're the andy that knows kei?" minwoo asked in disbelief, remembering andy from his dance class.

"where are you in a hurry to?" soo yung asked.

"I have to rush to give kei her medicine!" andy said in a huff. He then darted through the door.

"what! Give kei medicine? What medicine!" dongwan exclaimed.

Before andy ran any further, minwoo grabbed andy's shirt collar.

"KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" andy's eyes bulged out of its sockets and his tongue stuck out from his collar choking on him.

"where is kei now?" minwoo asked.

"kei's at home now. She's sick. I have to give her her medicine now!" andy choked out.

"what, she's sick?" dongwan exclaimed. Without second thought, he brusquely grabbed the keys off his desk and ran out of the room and down the hall.

"wait for me!" andy cried. He got out of minwoo's hold and ran after dongwan. minwoo and soo yung also took after them.

Kei tried to pry her eyes open. Even though it's been a few days since she's been sick, she still had a little difficulty waking up. her body always felt so heavy and every movement she made she had to put forth all her effort. She closed her eyes, defeated from trying to open them.

"kei! Kei! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry that I'm late. Geez, bad andy!" kei heard. She turned to her left in the direction of andy's loud voice. She tried again to open her eyes and managed to open them slightly.

"andy…" she said, her voice extremely dry and hoarse.

"I know I'm half an hour late but there was this old lady that was arguing with the bus driver today saying that she was over 55 years old and she should get the senior discount and the bus driver wanted to see some proof and the lady wouldn't show it and the bus driver wouldn't move and the old lady got all mad and started crying and man was she loud and she wouldn't get off the bus and the bus wouldn't move and the bus sat there for a whole half hour…." Andy rambled, fumbling with a medicine bottle and a spoon at the same time.

"it's oki," kei hoarsely spoke.

"here, let me help you sit up a little bit," andy said. He reached over and eased kei into a sitting position. Kei felt a cold metal touch her lips and she slighted her lips apart. A thick liquid then entered her mouth and she slowly swallowed the bitter medicine.

"kei…" a soft voice said. Kei's ears perked up a bit. The voice certainly did not sound like junjin or eric.

"oh, soo yung and minwoo are here. They came her to look for you," andy said, as if reading her mind.

"soo yung…minwoo…" kei mumbled softly, breathing heavily. She looked up and tried to clear her vision to see soo yung and minwoo.

"kei…my gosh, you look so pale now," soo yung said.

"I've had better days," kei replied in her cracked voice.

"no wonder we haven't seen you around for so long. You've been sick all this time," kei heard minwoo say.

"hi minwoo. Sorry I couldn't visit you. I wanted to…"

"it's oki. I understand."

"hey, you're talking more!" andy said happily. "it's an improvement from before."

"yeah…I don't have as much phlegm in my throat now…not that you wanted to hear that," kei said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I'm glad you still have your sense of humor lady," andy said.

"so you've been sick all this week?" soo yung asked.

Kei blinked a few times and finally saw the soo yung was now standing next to her bed. "yeah…flu…"

"awww…poor kei…" soo yung said.

"I'm getting better."

Kei then felt something warm envelope her right hand. She looked over to her right and realized that dongwan was also in the room. He was holding her hand in both of his.

"dongwan…"

"how did you get so sick?" dongwan asked.

"i…dunno…I just…did…" kei said. She tried to smile, but she couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart when she saw how drained and fatigued dongwan looked.

"you…you scared me…" dongwan said.

Despite the comforting warmth she felt from his hands, kei tried to pull her hand out of dongwan's two hands. It felt wrong and misleading to have dongwan hold onto her hand. However, dongwan kept his hands tightly clamped onto hers and kei was too weak to release herself from his grip.

"dongwan…" she whispered, turning her head slightly side to side, trying to shake her head at him.

Dongwan also shook his head. "no…I'm not letting go," he said firmly.

"uhhh…" andy said. "ahem, I don't think we should be here right now…" andy motioned for soo yung and minwoo to follow him out of the bedroom. The three exited the room, leaving dongwan and kei alone inside.

"dongwan, please. Please let go," kei asked again.

"no. I let go once and look at what happened to you. I won't let go again."

"dongwan, my getting sick has nothing to do with our breaking up. it just happened. There is no relation whatsoever."

"I don't care. I can't stand not being with you. do you know how hard it's been to live through the past few days? The thought of not being able to see you like before, the thought of not being able to see you smile, the thought of not being able to call you to just say that I miss you…I missed you so much, kei…I missed you…"

kei gulped. She did not want to see dongwan like this. "dongwan, I—"

"I don't care if your feelings now are for someon else and not me. I will not give you up that easily. You are that important to me, kei. Don't you see?"

"dongwan, please…" tears began to spill out of kei's eyes.

"I want to be by your side when you go through ups and downs, to see you smile, to hear you laugh, to pick you up when you're down. Please don't take that away from me…only you can make me happy, kei…only you…"

kei closed her tired eyes. she felt too weak to protest and pull her hand out of dongwan's grasp. She laid there and let fatigue take over, allowing for the moisture in her eyes be squeezed out and to fall down her cheeks. Dongwan continued to sit there holding her hand, watching her fall to sleep.

"I can't believe that this is all happening again…" dongwan whispered to himself.

Outside the door…

"whoa, kei likes someone else?" andy muttered under his breath in disbelief.

"uh, I don't think we got into the right apartment, eric," junjin said as he found some unfamiliar people sitting in his living room. Junjin started to close the door, but eric stopped the door.

"wait, that's minwoo and soo yung," eric said, opening the door back up and letting himself in.

"minwoo and soo yung? Wait, minwoo? Lee minwoo?" junjin came into the apartment and closed the door behind him.

Soo yung and minwoo looked up from the couch. Eric looked at them with a fixed stare.

"um, hi, um, eric," soo yung cautiously asked.

"hey…" eric said unemotionally. He looked to minwoo. Minwoo greeted eric with a nod. Eric didn't return minwoo's nod.

"um, if you're, um, wondering why we're, uh, here, we're here cuz we heard that, uh, that kei was sick and we, um, we came to see her…" soo yung stuttered.

after a few seconds of silence, eric grunted, and then walked off into the hallway.

Junjin walked up to minwoo and soo yung.

"long time no see, minwoo," junjin said.

"yeah, same here," minwoo answered.

Junjin looked up at soo yung. "so you're soo yung huh?"

soo yung nodded.

Not bad…no wonder andy decided to become 'friends' with her…anyone in their right mind would, if not try to hit on her… instead of letting the usual thoughts of how to hit on a hot girl sitting before him fill his mind, he also disappeared into the hall to kei's room.

Soo yung turned to minwoo. "do you think kei will be oki?"

minwoo nodded. "kei's strong. She'll pull through a flu."

"no…I was talking about with dongwan. I know dongwan. he can very, I dunno, very passionate about things."

Minwoo had a confused and anxious look. "what do you think dongwan will do?"

soo yung lowered her gaze. "um…when I…when I broke it off with him…it took me 2 months for me to finally get him to stop bugging me."

"he kept asking you to get back with him?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung didn't answer.

Minwoo never asked about soo yung's relationship in the past with dongwan, but now he couldn't help but be curious. "soo yung, what happened in the past with dongwan that always makes you so sad?"

Soo yung kept her head facing down, a grim look on her face.

"soo yung, tell me. you can't let what happened in the past keep doing this to you. it's not good for you!" minwoo ordered, slightly shaking soo yung by the shoulders.

Soo yung then let out a long sigh. She then looked up and stared at minwoo dead in the eye.

"i…I thought that dongwan was cheating on me."

chapter 58

"how is she andy?" junjin heard eric ask andy. Junjin walked up to them.

"she's oki."

"she sleeping inside?" junjin asked, pointing to the closed door.

"uh, no…actually, dongwan's with her inside now. They're discussing their, uh, personal matters," andy said.

"personal matters?" eric asked.

"um, personal stuff," andy said.

Junjin snorted. "what? Hey, you know I find it weird. Kei's been sick for a week and he now comes to see her? what kinda boyfriend is he?"

"they broke up already," andy said.

"what, they broke up?" junjin asked in surprise.

"geez junjin, can you shriek any louder?" andy said.

"no, that would be you."

"anywayz," andy continued, ignoring junjin's remark. "I guess dongwan's trying to get her back now. But…I think kei likes someone else."

"what! Kei likes someone else?" junjin asked in disbelief.

"that's what I heard," andy said.

"you mean overheard," eric stated firmly as he spotted that the door was actually slightly open.

"uh…hehehehehehhehe…" andy bashfully started to scratch his head.

"I think we should go into our room," eric said. He then slowly walked into his room, and andy followed eric into the room. Junjin stood staring at kei's bedroom door.

Kei likes someone else, huh?

"wait, what do you mean you thought?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung let out another sigh. "um…well, dongwan was a pretty popular guy in high school. There were a lot of girls that liked him. I never usually let it get to me though, cuz I mean, what could I do? I can't help it if dongwan's good looking and nice and sweet.

"there was this one girl though. miki. She was, well, smart. I think she was valedictorian or saludictorian of our school, one or the other. Everyone liked her cuz she was smart. miki was more of the, you know, conservative and reserved. She was nice though. I had liked her…at first. dongwan got to be pretty good friends with her, especially cuz they had a lot of the same classes.

"because of that, they happened to always work on projects or assignments together. I didn't mind or anything. I wasn't in any of the advanced honors classes like they were. I didn't really think much of anything about them.

"but then rumors got spread that dongwan and miki had something going on. I ignored them at first, cuz it was nonsense. But then, soon, dongwan started to come home late, and our phone conversations were a lot shorter. He always told me to not listen to the stupid rumors and assured me that nothing was going on with him and miki, but I started to get suspicious anywayz.

"soo yung, don't listen to those stupid rumors. Nothing is going on between me and miki, I swear it."

"I know I shouldn't listen to the rumors, that they're all just lies. But—"

"but nothing. I don't know who started those stupid rumors, but whoever the wiseguy is, he has no life."

Soo yung laughed. "oki wiseguy. I won't listen to those stupid rumors. I know my baby won't do naughty stuff behind my back."

"that's my girl. Hey, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later, oki?"

"so fast?"

"yeah. I'm working with miki on an anatomy project."

"miki again? don't the honors classes have more students than just the two of you?"

"soo yung…" dongwan said in a firm tone.

"alright alright."

"I really have to go now. I have to go over to miki's now."

"oki. I'll call you tonite, oki?"

"oki, bye soo yung."

"bye dongwan."

ring. Ring. Ring.

"I've called him all night." Soo yung looked at her watch. "it's almost 1am. Why isn't he home yet?"

the next morning…

soo yung friend opened her locker.

"oh my god, miki, are you serious? You and dongwan?" a girl's voice said.

Soo yung glanced to her right from behind her locker door. A few lockers down, miki and two girls stood in front of miki's locker. The girls surrounded miki, looking at her with bug eyes.

"so you and dongwan really…DID it?" the other girl asked.

"like, home run? All the way?"

soo yung's eyes widened. "what are they talking about?"

"shhh, don't say it so loud!" miki cried in a hushed whisper..

the two girls gaped. "oh my gosh, you guys did! Wow miki, I didn't think that you would have done it!"

"I didn't think so too…I mean, I've liked dongwan all this time, but I never said anything cuz, you know, he already has a girlfriend. But…last night, when we were working on our project…he…he…"

"he…?" the two girls urged miki to continue.

"he kissed me, and he said that he liked me…"

"oooohhhhhh!" the two girls exclaimed excitedly.

"and…one thing led to another…" miki said, her voice trailing off and her cheeks blushing red.

"oh my gosh!" the two girls exclaimed again.

"shhhhh!" miki hushed, looking embarassed.

The girls finally calmed down from their laughing. "gosh, I always thought that dongwan was the type to sleep with girls, but miki! I didn't think that you would have given in!"

Miki was blushing furiously. "…I didn't think so either…"

"so…it boils down to one question…" one girl said.

Miki looked up at her.

"…was he good?"

miki looked flustered and quickly looked down at the ground. But…a smile spread across her face and she nodded. The two girls bursted laughing.

"oh my gosh miki, you amazed us all…" miki and the girls started to walk down the hallway to class, excitedly chatting with each other.

Soo yung remained standing before her open locker.

"no way. There's no way that dongwan slept with miki. There's no way he would do that…but…but…why wasn't he home last night?"

hyesung let himself into the room.

"eh, where are minwoo and soo yung? Shouldn't they be here now?" hyesung wondered to himself when he discovered the empty room. He closed the door behind him and plopped onto his bed. He placed his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. He let out a big sigh.

"mmm…I see. You know…if you're interested in working for a music company…I have a friend that works for one. One of those background people that don't mess with the actual music itself, but more of the technical stuff. I don't quite remember his position, but he's there. Interested?"

"a job in a music company? That's a dream come true…" hyesung mumbled to himself. He let out another sigh.

"hmmm…speaking of compositions…I have the class's compositions here with me also, but I haven't received lim kei's composition. In fact, I haven't seen her in class for the past week. That doesn't look good for kei. I know she's a good student, but if she doesn't turn in her composition, she's not going to get credit for this course."

"where are you kei?"

"I avoided him for the whole day. I couldn't bear to face him, after hearing that whole conversation. My mind just a mess. I knew that dongwan would never do something like that. But then, I didn't think that miki would either. But, if she was lying, why? What would she benefit from it? And it was miki we were talking about. The good, smart, nice girl that everyone liked. Why would she lie about something like that?" soo yung explained. "I just couldn't think straight. I was a mess…

"later that day afterschool, I decided to go have a private talk with dongwan about the whole issue with him and miki, cuz it was really bothering me. I walked over to his house…"

"soo yung! Gosh, I was looking for you all over school today. Where were you? What are you doing here?"

"dongwan, I have to talk to you."

"you do? Come in first. Let's go to my room to talk."

Soo yung followed dongwan into his house and up to his room. Dongwan sat down on his bed and motioned for soo yung to sit down next to him. Soo yung remained standing.

"what's wrong?"

"where were you last night?"

"last night? Oh, I was over at miki's house doing our anatomy project. Sorry, I kinda fell asleep at her place and I didn't get home until 2 so I didn't get to call. I didn't even think of calling from miki's place. I'm sorry soo yung. We were really busy with the anatomy project."

"you fell asleep at her place? yeah, sure, you guys were really BUSY with ANATOMY," soo yung said, anger apparent in her voice.

"what, what's wrong soo yung? Why are you so upset?"

soo yung opened her mouth, but she couldn't speak. She paced around the room in frustration, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. Speaking was suddenly so difficult. "dongwan…dongwan, this whole thing between you and miki is really getting out of hand."

"soo yung, I've told you many times before, don't listen to the lies that people out there are spreadi—"

"to…today…today I heard miki and two of her friends talking. She told them…she told them…"

dongwan looked at soo yung. "told them what?"

"she…she told them that you two slept together last night."

"what! That's crazy! I just fell asleep last night, and I only slept for an hour, then I came home. Nothing happened!" dongwan shouted.

"I know I know. I find the whole thing hard to believe myself. But…but I heard…the words straight out of miki's mouth."

"…no way. There's no way that miki would do something like that. Why would she lie? She wouldn't do something like this."

"dongwan, I know it's unbelievable. But I'm telling you the truth, I heard it with my own ears!"

"no. miki would never say something like that. Why would she do that?"

soo yung looked at dongwan with shocked eyes. "are…are you saying that I'm lying?"

"no, I'm not. But…I just find this whole thing too hard to believe."

Soo yung stayed silent. She was too shocked to say anything more, shocked at dongwan not believing her.

DING DONG.

"hold on, lemme go see who it is." Dongwan then got up from the bed and left the room to answer the front door.

Soo yung stayed in the room, staring at nothing in particular.

"dongwan…how could you? I'm telling you the truth, but instead of trusting me…you think I'm lying…"

after a few minutes, dongwan still hadn't returned to the room. Soo yung then finally started out of the room to go find dongwan…

…kissing miki in the living room.

Soo yung's eyes widened even more. After a second of being frozen in her spot, soo yung finally picked up her legs and hurried out the front door, blocking out dongwan's calls to her. she slammed the front door in his face. it was when the door was shut and she was walking down the street that tears started to pour down her face…

Chapter 59

"…first soo yung, and now you, kei…" dongwan muttered to himself. He still grasped onto kei's hand. "why does it always have to be this way? To have the ones I love leave me, thinking that I don't love them but someone else instead? What did I do to deserve this? Why are things repeating itself? Why? Why?"

"afterwards, dongwan tried many times to explain to me that everything was a misunderstanding, that what I saw wasn't what it seemed like. She had forced herself onto him, and it just so happened that I came into the room at that moment. After a while…I started to forgive him, to think that what he said was true…but…"

"miki, are you oki? You don't look too well," one of miki's friends remarked as she walked with miki down the school hallway. Soo yung was a distance behind them, but close enough to hear what they were saying.

"yeah, I'm not feeling too…too…" suddenly miki started to stumble into her friend's arms.

"whoa miki! Are you sure you're oki? You look like you're about to faint!"

miki stood up straight. "uh…yeah, I'm oki…actually, no, I'm not…"

"what's wrong miki?"

"…jini, i…I think I'm pregnant," miki said very softly. Her words however didn't escape soo yung's ears and soo yung's eyes widened.

"oh my gosh miki are you serious!" jini exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

Miki weakly nodded.

"…dongwan's?" jini asked cautiously.

Miki looked up at jini. "of…of course it's dongwan's! he…he's the o-only one!"

"oh my gosh miki. You have dongwan's child!"

soo yung was paralyzed.

Dongwan's child…

"eventually word got to dongwan and he started to hang out with miki more, I guess for the sake of the kid. He…he was the type to be responsible for all his actions, even if he despised what the responsibility was. He…he veered away from me, but…but I could tell he was unhappy. I was very unhappy. I was depressed. Suicidal, almost."

"suicidal?" minwoo exclaimed.

"to see the one you love with another person was very difficult to deal with…there were many times when I thought of slicing my wrist…but I never did. Hyesung never allowed me to. He would always stay by my side to make sure I wouldn't do anything stupid. He also fought off dongwan when dongwan tried to make up to me. hyesung was very protective of me. he…he helped me a lot…"

"soo yung, forget that lowlife! He's not worth your tears or your blood! He went off and got laid with another girl and now she's carrying his kid! Do you think that you should be moping over him like this?" hyesung shouted.

"but…but I love him! I can't live on without him…" soo yung cried, tears streaking down her face.

"yes you can! Come on soo yung! You're a lot stronger than this! What happened to the tough, strong soo yung that I've known all my life! I told you that you shouldn't have gone out with dongwan. going out with him would cause too many problems and now look at what's happened!"

"…dongwan…dongwan…" soo yung called his name within her sobs.

Hyesung let out an exasperated sigh and placed his hand on soo yung's shoulder. "look soo yung. What's done is done, and we can't go back to change it. You just need to pull yourself together and move on, alright? Alright?"

Soo yung looked up at hyesung with her teary eyes. she gulped and sighed. "i…I'll…I'll try…" she stammered.

"no, not try. You WILL move on."

Soo yung looked down and nodded. "i…will…"

"that's my girl."

"but…but…" soo yung looked up at hyesung with her wet eyes. "can…can I just cry right now? I promise that I'll…move on…after this…"

hyesung smiled. He then patted his shoulder, and then he reached over and placed soo yung's head against his shoulder. At that instant, soo yung cried her heart out.

"eventually, with hyesung's help, I was able to cheer up a little bit over the course of time. It took probably about a few months or so before I started to smile and laugh again. I would think of dongwan now and then and become sad, but at that point, I was able to say dongwan's name without bursting into tears. I was truly moving on. My…my feelings for dongwan started to lessen, especially when I saw him constantly with miki and when I saw miki's stomach grow bigger and bigger…"

"so dongwan's actually a father?" minwoo asked.

soo yung looked up at minwoo. Minwoo saw soo yung's eyes take on a new level of sadness…

"I wonder how dongwan's doing inside," andy wondered out aloud. He was laying on junjin's bed, staring up at the ceiling. "poor guy's really heartbroken. I mean, he was out of it the whole week, and I mean OUT of it."

"well…he shouldn't have upset her in the first place…" junjin said. I would never upset kei…not like that…

"he didn't! gosh, he can't really help it if a girl was forcing herself on him and kei just happened to walk into the room at the same instant."

junjin was silent. He continued to turn the basketball he held in his hands over and over. Eric, standing across the room, leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his eyes watching junjin.

"so…" junjin started to say. "…you think the two of them should get together again?"

andy let out a small sigh. "I dunno. I mean, I don't understand why the two of them broke up in the first place. dongwan really cares for kei, I know that much, and I'm pretty sure that kei likes him too. I just…man, I just can't believe the idea of kei liking someone else."

Junjin continued to stare at the basketball. "…who…who do you think she likes?"

Andy shrugged. "I have no clue. It could be anyone. It could be you, it could be eric, heck, it could be me! puhahaha." andy lightly laughed.

Junjin remained silent, his eyes never leaving the basketball in his hands.

"why, who do you think, junjin?" andy sat up on the bed and asked junjin. "who do you think she likes?"

junjin didn't answer, nor did he raise his eyes. "i…I dunno…" he said quietly.

"come on…oh wait…oh man, are you blushing? Are your cheeks turning red?" andy said, getting excited. "oh man, do you like kei? Hahaha!"

"man, what's so funny? I never said I liked kei," junjin defended himself, finally raising his eyes up to andy.

"yeah, but your red face tells me you do. Seriously, do you junjin?" andy asked, a bright, curious look on his face.

junjin lowered his eyes back to the basketball.

"do you do you do you?" andy pried.

"man, shut up fool. Forget it, I'm gonna take a leak." Junjin roughly passed the ball to andy, got up from the floor and left the room. Andy caught the ball and laughed when junjin left the room.

"puahahhaaha. Junjin l-ikes ke-ei, junjin l-ikes ke-ei!" andy started to sing.

"come on andy, leave him alone," eric said.

"so eric, does he really like kei? Huh? Huh?" andy asked.

Eric didn't answer.

"aww come on, eric, tell me, tell me!"

"stop acting like a lil kid andy."

Andy grinned. "ahhh, he does. Wow, this is a surprise. Junjin likes kei. I never woulda guessed." Andy started to throw the basketball into the air as if he was shooting for an invisible hoop and catching the ball back into his hands. Eric remained leaning against the wall, silent.

"so dongwan's a father?" minwoo asked again.

soo yung lowered her gaze. She closed her eyes and then breathed in a deep breath. "school let out. We had already graduated. I broke off contact with dongwan, cuz, well, it was real hard to face him. I still had some feelings for him and all, but…I moved on. I got on with my life, without dongwan. however…one day…I was shopping with hyesung, and we were sitting at an outdoors café…"

"hey hyesung, did you want to go watch a movie today?"

hyesung glanced at his watch. "hmmm…sure, why not? I don't have to get home until—" hyesung cut himself off and was looking over soo yung's shoulder. Soo yung looked at hyesung confused. She then looked behind her. her eyes widened.

Dongwan and miki were sitting at a table a few tables away from soo yung and hyesung. Dongwan, usually ravenous when it came to eating, was unusually not touching his food. Miki, on the other hand, was talking excitedly and wolfing down her food. Soo yung eyed her stomach, which was now very large, like an overblown balloon.

Soo yung blinked back the tears coming up in her eyes. she was about to turn around when she saw another tall scrawny guy come up to dongwan and miki's table.

"well well well. If it isn't miki. How have you been lately?"

miki looked up at the stranger. Soo yung saw surprise and fear in miki's eyes.

the stranger turned to dongwan. "who are you?"

dongwan stood up from his seat. "kim dongwan." dongwan stuck his hand out. The stranger looked at dongwan's outstretched hand, but made no motion to shake it. "I see you got yourself a new boyfriend, miki."

Miki didn't say anything. She was looking away, and soo yung couldn't help but notice a frantic look on her face.

A smirk then spread across the stranger's face. "my my, miki, you have changed a lot from the last time I met you." the stranger then knelt down next to miki and started to slowly rub miki's stomach. "I see that you decided to not get rid of the gift that I gave you."

Miki hit his hand away. "don't touch me!"

The stranger made a hurt look. "aww miki miki. How can you do this to me? after all, I am the father of the kiddo."

"shut up! you are not the father of the child!"

"oh really? Then who is?"

miki lowered her gaze from the stranger. She then raised a pair of uncertain eyes up to dongwan. "d-d-d-dong-dongwan is…"

the stranger looked at dongwan. he then bursted out laughing. "so you knocked this slut up too?"

dongwan couldn't answer. he had a very confused look on his face.

"you don't know?" the stranger said in disbelief. "man miki, what did you do to this poor guy?" the stranger then shook his head and slapped his hand on dongwan shoulder. "have fun, buddy." The stranger then walked away, laughing.

Soo yung turned her gaze to dongwan. dongwan had a very stunned expression on his face. he was looking at miki, who was looking away, unable to look back at dongwan.

"miki…who is the father of the child?" dongwan sternly asked.

Miki didn't answer.

Dongwan took a quick stride to miki's side and grabbed her arm. "miki, who is the father!"

Miki cringed away from dongwan, whimpering, still not looking at him. Finally, she said quietly, "I'm…sorry, dongwan."

Dongwan slowly released his grip on miki's arm and stood up straight. He covered his face with both his hands, and then ran his hands through his hair. He then scanned the tables of the café. By now, the whole scene had attracted the attention of the whole café and many eyes were looking at him.

Finally dongwan spotted soo yung.

Soo yung stared back at dongwan with sad eyes. she couldn't believe what she had just saw.

Dongwan lowered his eyes away from soo yung. He then took one last glance at soo yung and walked away.

Soo yung started to get up, but she felt something tug at her arm. Hyesung was grabbing onto her arm, and he was giving a her stern look.

"no, soo yung. Don't chase after him," he said.

"but…but…"

"really, it's for your own good."

"but…but I love him…"

"please, soo yung. It took you so long to get over him. Even though we now know that he's not the father, I think it's best that you don't go after him anywayz. You'll just break your heart again. Don't you think that everything's too awkward now to go back to the way they were?"

soo yung let the words sink into her mind. Too awkward to go back to the way they were?

Were they?

…

…

Hyesung was right. Things were real awkward now, and even though now soo yung knew that dongwan was not the father of miki's child, soo yung didn't know if she or he could face each other the same way as before. Soo yung slowly sat back down in her chair.

"soo yung, I know that you want to go back to dongwan now. But I think it's for the better that you guys don't get back together. Do you know what I'm saying?"

soo yung slowly nodded. "you're right. Things are too awkward now. I really dunno how I can look at him in the eye now even if I did chase after him."

Hyesung sighed. "so…are you sure you can keep going? Keep moving on?"

Soo yung looked up at hyesung. She slowly nodded.

"yes. I will move on."

"and I did. I eventually was able to push dongwan out of my life totally and move on. I did do one thing though. I searched out miki, wanting an explanation from her. I did find her one day at the supermarket, shopping for baby foods. By that time, she had already given birth to the baby. I finally got an explanation from her. She told me that she had started the whole scandal between her and dongwan. she was secretly seeing this guy, that guy from the café, against her parents' wills. One night they slept together and the next morning he left, leaving her ditched and pregnant. She was too scared of an abortion. therefore, she needed a way to explain the child. That's where dongwan came in. she used him. She made him think that they slept together even though he really had just fallen asleep at her house like he said. He never thought that they did sleep together, but she insisted on it. I guess eventually he just gave in cuz he felt bad for her or something, having a kid out of wedlock."

"this miki girl…she may be smart, but gosh, she's evil," minwoo commented.

Soo yung nodded. "I guess since she told dongwan that the baby was his, he felt full responsibility and if he never found out that he wasn't the father, he woulda went on and fathered the kid. He never woulda thought that miki would do that to him. No one woulda thought she would do something like that.

"nevertheless, I went on with my life. I came here and I was happy. I was starting a new life. I met new friends, met you…I was happy again. when I found out that dongwan came here too, I was kinda surprised. I mean, I didn't expect him to be here. I didn't even know, cuz I broke off all contact with him. So…when I saw him again that one time he walked kei home, I was shocked, and I was sad. Seeing him again brought back all the memories and…well…it made me think…that if it weren't for miki…for that whole fat lie…me and him may still be together…"

soo yung noticed minwoo's arm around her start to tense. She then looked up at minwoo with reassuring eyes. "don't worry, I don't feel that way now. I know that I'm now with the one for me. after when you and I broke up, when dongwan and kei first started going out, I was really feeling sad all over again, one fact being that I then knew that there was no way for me and dongwan to ever be together again. but…the main reason why I was sad…was because I thought that you didn't love me anymore, lee minwoo." Soo yung lifted up her sleeve, and minwoo's eyes widened. A scar stretched across her wrist. Minwoo looked back up at soo yung.

"hyesung never saw this. I was able to hide this from him. But I was really, really, really depressed. Kei, my friend, took two guys out of my life. I didn't know if I was mad at her, or mad at myself. Before I lost too much blood, I realized that I had brought everything upon myself, that everything was my fault, not hers. And… if I had killed myself, I would never be able to see your face again…"

minwoo tightened his arms around soo yung. "never again, soo yung. Never again."

soo yung reached up and wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye. "it better never happen again. I'm not slicing another wrist for you lee minwoo. You ain't worth it."

Minwoo let out a small laugh and continued to hug soo yung.

Junjin walked by the kei's room on his way back from the bathroom. He slightly pushed the door open so he could peer inside. Junjin saw dongwan still holding onto kei's hand while kei was asleep in bed. A frown fell upon junjin's face. He fought the urge to go inside and knock dongwan away from kei.

How could he hurt kei like that?

Junjin slowly stepped away from the door and started to walk towards his room, but he stopped himself. He then turned the other way and walked out of the apartment…

Chapter 60

Andy stirred awake in the bed. He lazily stretched and looked at his watch. "oh man, it's almost 11 o'clock. Dongwan still in kei's room? He has work tomorrow," andy said. He then got out of the bed and out of the room. He scooted down the hall and into the living room, finding it empty.

"I guess minwoo and soo yung left, huh?"

"they left hours ago," a voice from the kitchen said. Andy went over to the kitchen and found eric at the stove, a mouth-watering aroma surrounding him.

"ooh, are you making more chicken soup? Oh, let me at it!" andy cried as he hurried to the stove. Andy was about to reach the stove when—

"OWWW!" andy stumbled back, clutching his head in pain. He looked up and saw that eric, his back still facing andy, was holding a wooden spoon up in the air.

"geez eric, you didn't have to hit me!" andy cried.

"you lucky I didn't just take the soup ladle outta the soup and knock you in the head with it, soup and all" eric gruffly said.

"come on eric, it's almost 11 and I haven't eaten all day today!"

"there's a bag of rice. Go make some rice."

"what? No, I need food now! I can't wait!"

"rice or nothing. This soup's for kei."

"hmph." Andy rubbed his head and sauntered out of the kitchen. "selfish fool," he muttered under his breath.

"kei, are you awake? Kei?"

kei slowly opened her eyes with difficulty from fatigue and stuff in her eyes. she blinked a few times and her vision cleared a little. She looked up and saw that dongwan was still sitting at her bedside, holding her hand between both of his.

"dongwan…"

"how do you feel now, kei?"

kei looked away. "don-" she tried to speak, but her voice gave out on her. she began to cough.

"are you oki? Do you want some water?" and without waiting for an answer, dongwan rushed out of the room to get a glass of water. On the way to the kitchen, he nearly collided with andy.

"whoa dongwan, what's the hurry? Miss me that much?" andy said.

"water. I need water for kei," dongwan quickly said and he hurried past andy into the kitchen. Dongwan spotted the glasses on the kitchen counter and walked over to the counter.

"don't worry about the water now. You should go home," eric simply stated from where he stood before the stove.

Dongwan turned and faced eric. ignoring eric's remark, he reached for a glass. Eric turned and faced dongwan, holding the soup ladle in his hand.

"go home, dongwan," eric repeated again in a firm tone.

Dongwan stared back at eric. "kei needs water."

"I'll get her water. You go home."

"no, I'll get it fo—"

"I said, go home."

Dongwan looked at eric, a little taken aback by eric's demands. The two continued to stare at each with stony glares.

"uh, dongwan," andy said, approaching dongwan from behind. "let's go home. I have some stuff I have to do and there are no buses running now. You have to work tomorrow anywayz." Andy took dongwan by the arm and tried to lead him out of the apartment.

"wait, dongwan said. "I want to say bye to kei first." Dongwan then disappeared into the hallway before he could hear eric say anything more. Andy glanced over to eric.

"well aren't you mr. Hospitable now?" andy commented.

Eric looked back at andy. Andy then backed away with his hands up.

"oki oki, eric, I'll shut up. don't look at me like that, you scare me."

a moment later, dongwan came out of the hallway.

"let's go andy."

Soon andy and dongwan left the apartment. Eric then turned back to his pot. He scooped some soup into a bowl and then carried the steaming bowl to kei's room.

Kei looked up to eric from where she laid in her bed. "eric…"

"shhh. Here, drink this."

Kei looked at the bowl. "heh…how'd you know I was hungry?"

Eric sat down on the edge of the bed and set the bowl down on the table. Without uttering a word, he reached behind kei and helped her sit up in bed. He then reached over for the bowl and brought it to kei. "here."

Kei reached over and took the bowl from eric. "thank you eric."

Knock knock.

Kei and eric looked up and saw junjin standing at the door…a solitary red rose in his hands…

"junjin?" kei said in her raspy voice.

Junjin walked into the room. "hey kei," he said as he came by and sat down on the bed next to eric. "how do you feel now?"

"I'm…oki…I've been better…"

Junjin looked around the room. "I guess dongwan and andy left huh?"

Kei nodded. She began to stare at the red rose junjin held. "uh, junjin…"

Junjin looked down at the rose. "oh, this…hehehe…I, uh, I went to the gas station to get some, uh, some drinks and I saw this." He timidly held it out to kei. "thought it might cheer you up."

Kei looked at junjin slightly surprised. She attempted to smile even though the muscles in her face were tired. "thank you junjin. That's very thoughtful of you…" she then accepted the rose from junjin.

Junjin eyed the bowl that kei held in her hands. "oh, are you drinking soup now?"

Kei looked down at the soup. "yeah. Eric brought me this soup."

"here, lemme feed you." junjin took the bowl out of kei's hands. He took a small scoop of soup and lightly blew at the soup to cool it down. Kei looked at junjin with surprised eyes.

"it's oki, junjin, I can help mys-" kei started to say.

"here," junjin said, holding the spoon to kei.

Kei looked at the spoon. She then looked up at junjin and smiled. "oki…" she opened her mouth and junjin fed the soup into her mouth.

"I'm gonna go sleep now," eric said, getting up from the bed. "junjin, don't stay up too late. Work tomorrow."

"oki oki," junjin said, still feeding kei. eric then left the room, leaving junjin in the room with kei.

After kei finished half the bowl, junjin placed the bowl down. "do you like the rose, kei?"

Kei looked at the red rose she held in her hand. She envisioned the rose stem to be short…and the petals to be blue… she looked up at junjin and smiled. "yes I do junjin. Thank you."

Junjin started to rub his shaved head with his hand. "heh, you know, I've never gotten flowers for a girl before."

A small laugh came from kei. "not even with all those girls you went after?"

junjin shook his head. "nope. Not one."

"wow. I guess I'm special."

Junjin looked up at kei and stared into her eyes. "yes…very special…"

Kei's smile slowly vanished when she saw that junjin was looking at her very intently. Kei began to grow uncomfortable.

"kei, is…is there…do…do you…have someone in your heart now?" junjin asked.

Kei's eyes widened. "what? What are you saying junjin?

"i…i…well, andy said that…that he heard that you said…that…you had someone…that you liked…"

"umm…."

"kei…i…gosh…" junjin let out a big sigh and then looked up at kei again. "kei…i…I want…to…I want to be that someone…"

kei literally felt her heart skip a beat at what junjin said.

"I know this sounds weird…I mean, I, junjin park, the big goof off, the one that always tries to go for different girls each week, would…would be sitting here saying the stuff that I am right now…kei…you're…I realized how different and special you are, kei…"

"junjin…" kei whispered.

"all I've ever done in the past is annoy you, pester you, not help you when I should and act like such a big kid. You've always been taking care of me. now…i…I want to take care of you, kei. Will…will you let me?"

kei sat in her position, staring at junjin in shock. The rose hung loosely within her fingertips.

"i…i…"

"I will never hurt you, kei. Whenever I see you hurt or crying, I hurt so much inside myself. I realized how much I want to protect you, kei."

"junjin…i…I dunno what to say…i…this…this is really a surprise…"

"will you let me be that someone in your heart? I promise that I will care for you more than anyone else can…"

"……."

"kei…"

"……."

The next morning…

Hyesung woke up to the rays of sunlight shining through the window. He slowly sat up in his bed and squinted. He yawned, looked over, and found minwoo already sitting at his desk typing away at the computer.

"oh hey you're back," hyesung said groggily.

"mmm…" minwoo replied back. "where'd you go yesterday?"

"huh? Oh, um, nowhere," hyesung answered, thinking back to his encounter with professor jo.

Minwoo turned around in his chair. "we found kei."

Hyesung's eyes widened. "you did?"

"yeah. She's been sick with the flu for the past week."

"oh…really…"

"yeah…that's the reason why she didn't show up at the hospital or classes for the past week. She looked really bad when I saw her."

hyesung's eyes lowered to the floor. Kei's been sick?

"did you want to go visit her?" minwoo asked.

Hyesung looked up at minwoo. "visit…her?"

minwoo smiled. "yeah…don't you want to do that dude?"

Hyesung looked at minwoo blankly. "i…i…"

"dude, when did you ever get so nervous?"

nervous? Am I nervous? Is this what I'm feeling? Hearing that kei's sick makes me feel sad…but to see her…why? Why do I feel this way? Like…I want to see her, but…but I feel that I can't…

"do you want to go see her? I know where she lives now."

Hyesung looked up at minwoo and then gave him a small nod.

"you know, I'm very close to filing sexual harassment on you," soo yung said irritated as she watched kangta walk into the shop.

"what? I'm not harassing you," kangta said.

"yes you are! You are constantly irritating me, all up in my face. I can barely do my work here. You don't even belong here."

Kangta smirked. "I come here to visit my uncle."

"no you're not! You don't even say hi to raymond most of the time! Instead you're here bugging me!"

A sneer appeared on kangta's face. "well…then you know that I'm here to see you then."

Soo yung grew furious. "I don't appreciate you coming to see me. it's hindering my work."

"no it's not. As long as you don't spend your time yelling at me and actually try to get to know me instead, I shouldn't be viewed of as the nuisance that you see me as now," kangta said, leaning in closer to soo yung.

Soo yung backed away. "nuisance? That's an understatement, especially since you took the liberty to beat up my best friend!"

"your best friend?"

soo yung narrowed her eyes at kangta. "don't play stupid with me kangta. I know that you were the one who attacked hyesung."

Kangta gave a bewildered look. "hyesung? You mean to say that you think that I was the one who hurt hyesung?"

"I don't think that, I know. Hyesung told me himself."

"hyesung told you, huh? But he's lying. I never even touched hyesung."

"don't give me that, kangta! Hyesung would never lie to me!"

"he wouldn't, huh? But why me? I never did anything to him," kangta calmly said.

"because you were jealous of him."

"for what?" kangta gave soo yung a challenging look.

"because you can't stand the thought that I hang out with him and I can't stand you."

kangta snickered. "please soo yung. Would I really stoop myself that low to get with you? and besides, if I did, shouldn't I go after your boyfriend instead of hyesung?"

"don't you dare touch minwoo! I will literally skin you alive if you do!"

kangta smugly smiled at soo yung. "to have you touch my skin, it would be well worth it."

Soo yung brought her hand up to slap kangta, but kangta caught her hand. He stared into her angry eyes.

Kangta slowly brought her hand down and slowly let go of it. "but really, soo yung. I didn't touch hyesung."

"hyesung said you beat him. It must have been you."

"and what if it was me? how's he going to prove it? Even if you approach the authorities about it…" Kangta leaned his face in closer to soo yung's. "…it's his word against mine."

Soo yung kept her steady, angry glare at kangta. "get out."

Kangta backed away from soo yung. "oki, I'll get out. I see that you're in a bad mood today. I will go….but…don't think that I will stop coming." Kangta stood up from the desk and walked over to the door. He looked back at soo yung. Soo yung's eyes followed kangta and looked at his.

"I will make you mine, yoo soo yung," he said. He then turned around and left. Soo yung continued to stare angrily at the door even after he left. She cursed under her breath and then looked down at the paperwork before her.

"what am I going to do? The looney's gone insane!"

chapter 61

kei slowly opened her eyes to find herself staring at her bedroom ceiling. She sighed in relief at the realization that she was able to open them with less difficulty now.

Knock knock.

Kei looked over and saw her bedroom door slowly open. Junjin's head popped into the room.

"kei, are you awake?" he softly said.

"um…yeah…" kei answered softly.

Junjin opened the door and slowly walked into the room. He was dressed in his work uniform and ready to go.

As he neared the bed, kei got slightly nervous…

"kei…i…I want…to…I want to be that someone…I know this sounds weird…I mean, I, junjin park, the big goof off, the one that always tries to go for different girls each week, would…would be sitting here saying the stuff that I am right now…kei…you're…I realized how different and special you are, kei…"

"junjin…"

"all I've ever done in the past is annoy you, pester you, not help you when I should and act like such a big kid. You've always been taking care of me. now…i…I want to take care of you, kei. Will…will you let me?"

"i…i…"

"I will never hurt you, kei. Whenever I see you hurt or crying, I hurt so much inside myself. I realized how much I want to protect you, kei."

"junjin…i…I dunno what to say…i…this…this is really a surprise…"

"will you let me be that someone in your heart? I promise that I will care for you more than anyone else can…"

"……."

"kei…"

"………junjin, I…I don't feel so good now…I need to go sleep…can…can I answer you when…when I am better?"

"…fair. I shouldn't make you answer when you're sick. I'm sorry."

"…"

"you get some rest." Junjin leant down and kissed kei on the forehead. He then got up and left the room, turning the lights off.

I'm sorry junjin… kei thought to herself. I couldn't answer you last night because...

Junjin walked over to kei's bedside. "how do you feel today?" he asked.

"um, better…"

junjin smiled. "that's good to hear."

Silence befell them both.

Junjin then cleared his throat. "I'm, uh, off to work now. I just wanted to check up on you before I left for work."

Kei gave a small smile. "um, thank you, junjin."

Junjin also smiled. He leant down and gave a small peck on kei's forehead. He then stood up and left the room.

Kei reached up and felt her forehead, on the spot that his lips touched. She then let out a sigh.

Ooohhhh boy…

There was another knock at the door. Kei looked up and saw eric walk into the room. He walked up to the bedside and stood towering over kei.

"morning kei," he mumbled softly.

"uh, morning, eric. going to work today?"

eric nodded. "but I'm gonna be coming home a lil earlier today. There are so many things around the house that need to be done."

"oh, sorry. I guess my being sick is leaving the house real messy."

Eric shook his head. "it's about time that me and junjin start picking up our weight. You're not our maid. So, how are you doing?"

"better. I can open my eyes a lil easier now."

"good."

"um, what time will you be back today?"

"I dunno…mebbe 2 o'clock. You gonna be oki until then? Andy said he couldn't come today."

Kei nodded. "I'm fine. I think I can get out of bed fine now."

"oki. If you need anything, you know how to contact me, oki? You can use the phone, right?"

"yeah I'm fine."

"good. I'll be back at 2, oki?"

kei nodded. "bye eric."

eric nodded. He then left the room.

Kei sighed in relief. Knowing that eric was going to be back early today was reassuring. She closed her eyes and just rested for a few minutes, indulging herself in the silence that surrounded her. soon, she felt finicky. She needed something… not silence…

She needed music…

"raymond?"

raymond looked up from his camera. He had just finished doing a photo shoot and the model was changing.

"yes soo yung?"

soo yung walked up to her boss. "I think we need to talk."

"oki, hold on." Raymond disconnected a part from his camera and placed them on the table. "oki, so wussup?" he asked, facing soo yung.

"i…uh…I need to talk to you about….about kangta…"

"chilhyun? What about him?"

"um…well…he's been really irritating me…up to the point of harassment—"

"chilhyun? Harass you? oh don't take it so harshly, soo yung. Chilhyun's just showing interest in you. he's not a bad chap."

Yeah right, soo yung thought to herself. "I know…it's just that he's making me feel really uncomfortable and I don't like him being around, especially since I have a boyfriend already and everything…"

"oh soo yung, chilhyun's just showing interest in you. but if you really feel strongly about his associating with you, I can have a talk with him if you'd like."

"yes, that would be nice, but I don't know even if that would work…" soo yung said uncertainly.

"well, what do you want me to do then?"

soo yung let out a sigh. "I don't know, I really don't. I mean, he just won't back off."

"hahaha. Yes, chilhyun's a pretty persistant fellow. Always strives to get what he wants." Raymond turned around and started to wipe his equipment with a soft rag.

"I just want him to leave me alone," soo yung said.

"just tell him. I'm sure he will understand."

"I did and he didn't! instead he went and beat up my friend who he thought I was going out with!" soo yung said, growing irritated.

Raymond turned around and looked at soo yung, surprised. "whoa whoa, wait. Beat up your friend? That's a serious accusation, soo yung. And personally, I don't think chilhyun would do anything like that."

"you wouldn't think so. But I know for a fact he did. My friend told me kangta did."

"you sure your friend is not just making things up? that's a little extreme and I frankly don't believe that chilhyun would do something like that."

Soo yung let out a sigh. I knew that this was going to happen. "um, never mind then. I, um, I guess I'll just go back to work." And without waiting to hear if raymond had anything else to say, she walked back out to the front and plopped herself back into her chair. Her hands, placed on the edge of the desk, gripped onto the edge very tightly, until her knuckles were white.

Gosh, what am I supposed to do?

The clock read 1 o'clock. Hyesung packed up his stuff and walked out of his classroom into the broad daylight. He squinted at the bright light at first, but then his eyes adjusted to the light and then hyesung scanned around the area. He finally spotted minwoo waiting under a nearby tree. Hyesung walked over to minwoo. Minwoo looked up and spotted hyesung walking to him. He reached up and took the earphones of his cd player off his ears.

"ready to go?" minwoo asked.

Hyesung nodded.

They then walked to a nearby bus stop and took the bus. They both remained silent the whole way. They rode for a short distance and it was only until they got off the bus that one spoke up.

"how…um…how sick is kei?" hyesung asked.

Minwoo kept his gaze before him as he walked. "she looked real sick yesterday…but she looked cheery at the same time too, before she realized that dongwa—" minwoo cut himself off and looked up at hyesung. Hyesung kept his gaze before him, a little anger apparent on his face.

Minwoo cleared his throat. "soo yung told me…about…everything…from the past, between you, her, and dongwan…"

Hyesung looked at minwoo. "oh yeah?"

Minwoo sighed and nodded. "I see why the two of you get so upset now when dongwan's around. But…I don't think it was his fault either…with what happened…"

Hyesung returned his gaze to before him. Minwoo saw his stony glare and continued to walk without saying anymore.

Soon, they approached an apartment complex.

"we're here," minwoo said.

Hyesung looked up at the apartment complex, at its bricks of all the possible different shades of red. His eyes went up to the roof, and his mind went back to the night he shared up on the roof with kei, the kiss they shared…

They shared a soft kiss, a small connection between their two bodies. The connection was soon broken apart when kei suddenly broke away.

"no…" she muttered to herself, a fresh batch of tears springing up in her eyes. "no, no…"

hyesung lowered his gaze, half surprised at what he just did. His act took a while to register in his brain, and he also found himself in a mess of emotions like kei. However, one stood out to him…

…it felt so right…

hyesung looked up at kei who was now crying her eyes out. hyesung subconsciously felt his own heart being torn to pieces when he saw her tears. He felt the need to wipe them away for her, but he didn't, for he knew he would upset kei…

"kei…"

kei shook her head. She then hastily wiped her face with the back of her hands. "i…I think we should get back to the apartment," she said in a wavering voice. "i… I'm tired and weak now…I think I'm going to get eric to help you get back." Without waiting for hyesung to consent, she stood up and walked away, leaving through the door that led to the roof.

Hyesung sat there, staring at the closed door. A light wind blew through the night air, causing a few of his bangs to caress his face. he slowly closed his eyes and raised his face up to the sky.

"my god, what is happening to me?"

"come on, hyesung," minwoo said.

hyesung then tore his eyes away from the roof and followed minwoo to a door.

Ding dong. Ding dong.

Kei looked up from her computer. She looked at her clock. "it's 1:38. Eric's not supposed to be back yet. and he wouldn't ring the doorbell. Who would it be?" kei slowly pushed herself up from her chair and slowly walked out of her room to the living room.

Ding dong. Ding dong.

Within a few moments, she finally made it to the door. She peeked through the peephole, but was unable to see through it because her eyes wouldn't focus through the hole.

"what the heck?" she said. She slowly unlocked the door and opened it.

Her eyes widened.

"minwoo? Hyesung?"

minwoo smiled. "hi kei. You're out of bed today!" he replied cheerfully.

She smiled at minwoo lazily. "yeah. I got tired of sleeping in bed." Her eyes slowly trailed to the tall figure behind minwoo. "hi hyesung."

"…hi, kei…" hyesung said.

"…did…did you guys want to come in?" kei asked. She slowly stepped aside, signaling for the two to come in. the two slowly stepped into the apartment. Kei closed the door behind them. She slowly made her way to the kitchen. The two remained standing in the living room.

"you guys take a seat. I'm gonna go get some drinks," kei said.

"no, it's oki kei," minwoo said. He walked towards the kitchen. Hyesung followed minwoo.

"no really. I'm the host, I should get some drinks for you guys," kei said in a deliberate and slow tone. She placed some glasses on the counter, and then she opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of orange juice. She opened the carton slowly and with much effort, she lifted the carton and began to pour the juice into the cups.

"here, lemme do that," minwoo said.

"no it's oki," kei said as she moved to the second cup. "I can do thi—aaahhh!" the carton suddenly dropped and knocked over the glasses, spilling the juice everywhere and making the glasses shatter into pieces.

Hyesung and minwoo rushed to kei before she slipped from stepping on the spilled juice. Hyesung caught kei before she fell.

"oh no," kei said.

"it's oki, everything's oki. Look, hyesung, you take kei to go clean up. I'll clean this mess up." minwoo then knelt down and started to carefully pick up some of the larger shards of glass.

Hyesung threw kei's arm over his shoulder, wrapped arm around kei, and carried her down the hall to the bathroom. He set her down to sit on the covered toilet. Hyesung reached over and grabbed some paper towels from the rack on the wall. He wetted them down and started wiping kei where the juice had spilled on her.

"silly girl. Why don't you just listen?" hyesung scolded. "you're covered with juice now. I'm gonna have to get you over to your room so we can get you changed." Before kei could say anything, he draped kei's arm over his shoulder again and took her across the hall to her room.

He took her into the room and placed her onto her bed. He then got up, opened her closet and rummaged through her clothes, pulling out some clothes for her to change into. He then walked back over to kei and placed the clothes on kei's bed.

"do…do you need…help, changing?" he asked.

Kei timidly looked up at hyesung with uncertain eyes. "i…" she trailed off. Truthfully, she had spent the past week in bed and had not changed out of her clothes the whole week. She was very self-conscious about the fact that she now smelled and was sticky all over. "i…I dun need help…I…can dress myself…"

"…raise your arms over your head."

"huh?" kei looked at hyesung confused through her sleepy eyes.

"raise your arms over your head. I wanna see if you can do it."

Kei looked at hyesung weird. She then tried to raise her arms over her head. However, even though she was recovering, kei's muscles still weighed like lead and she was only able to lift them to the height of her chest before they plopped down again. kei didn't dare look up at hyesung.

"…you need help," hyesung said. He looked back up at kei. "…turn around…"

kei looked at hyesung, her eyes mixed with confusion and anxiety.

Hyesung then simply took her by the shoulders and then started to turn her so she faced away from him, her back to him.

"don't be scared, oki? I promise I won't look," hyesung whispered in her ear as he closed his eyes, reached down, and started to pull kei's shirt up.

Hyesung slowly raised the bottom of kei's shirt up her torso. His fingers lightly brushed against kei's skin, and he felt kei shiver at his touch. He faintly smiled at the thought. He then guided his hands along kei's shirt and reached under. He lightly grasped onto her upper arm from under the shirt and tried to slide her arm through the sleeve. He lifted her heavy arm and gingerly pulled it through the sleeve. Once the arm was out, hyesung then felt along shirt to the other side and slid kei's other arm out of the shirt. He tried to refrain from trembling as he was undressing her.

Finally, hyesung pulled the shirt over kei's head and he placed the shirt on the bed. He turned around, opened his eyes and picked up the clean shirt. He fixed the shirt so that he would be able to easily slip it onto kei.

"oki, I'm going to put a clean shirt on you now," hyesung said as he turned around to kei again.

Hyesung realized that he forgot to close his eyes, and he repressed the instinct to gasp. Before him, kei now sat with only her bra on her upper body, and hyesung tried to command himself to close his eyes, but they disobeyed. His eyes scanned over her skin, slightly bronzed from constant exposure to the summer sun. There was a glow on her skin from the warmth and heat of staying in bed for such an elongated period of time. The outline of her back slanted slighty inwards from her shoulders down to her waist. Though her skin was slightly damp from perspiration, to hyesung's eyes, kei's skin was smooth and beautiful, and hyesung found himself resisting the urge to move away kei's hair and kiss the very soft-like skin at the arch of her neck and shoulder.

Hyesung then shook his head and snapped back to his senses. He slightly slapped himself.

What are you doing, shin hyesung? Hyesung scolded himself. He then closed his eyes again and reached up to pull the shirt over kei's head.

After he finally dressed kei on top, hyesung quickly helped kei changed into a clean pair of pants, this time he was true to his word and didn't look at kei unnecessarily. He took her dirty clothes and threw them into a hamper in the corner of her room. It was only when he finally walked over to kei's bedside that he realized that there was music playing in the background. He turned to the computer and saw that winamp was on and a single track was on the playlist. He listened, and he recognized the melody.

Kei's composition…

Hyesung then walked back over to kei's bedside and knelt down next to kei who was still sitting up on her bed. Hyesung looked up at her from where he knelt.

Kei finally raised her eyes to hyesung. Hyesung saw that her face glowed even more than before he dressed her.

She's nervous…

"…thank…you…hyesung…" kei said softly, lowering her eyes from his gaze. "…you… didn't…have to…"

hyesung shook his head. "kei…yes I did. You took care of me, and now it's my turn to return the favor…to take care of you…" hesitantly, he slowly reached up and brushed kei's face with his fingers. Kei's eyes shot back up at hyesung, at his nervous but soft eyes that were looking back at her in return.

"hyesung…" she whispered.

"kei…i…I want you to know…I want you to know that, that I feel very, very…I don't know this feeling inside me…this feeling that I get whenever I hear of you, think of you, see you…I just know…that…I want to be with you…that much I know…

"I know that I was a complete jerk in the past…I never showed a bit of compassion towards you..i always yelled at you, screamed at you, blamed you for everything… but now…I regret every angry word that escaped my mouth…I regret it all…I know that this is not a really good time to tell you this, but I have to tell you this…I have to tell that I li—"

ring ring.

Hyesung and kei looked over to the phone that rang. Hyesung looked back to kei. "you, you want to answer it?" hyesung asked.

Kei sighed. She then nodded. "it…it might be eric. he…he's coming home from work early," she said softly.

Hyesung got up and handed her the cordless receiver. Kei placed the receiver to her ear. "hello?" she softly greeted into the phone.

Hyesung watched as kei spoke on the phone. Or rather, hyesung watched as kei made different facial expressions as she listened to whoever was on the other end. Finally kei said bye and clicked the off button. Hyesung gently took the phone from her and placed it back onto its hook. He then walked back over to kei. His heart was pounding now. It was real awkward now to pick up from where he was, to continue what he was about to say.

But kei interrupted hyesung. "hyesung…I, I'm real tired now. I think I want to go to sleep now."

Hyesung looked up at kei with slightly surprised eyes. Then, he nodded and then helped kei lay down in bed. He then brought his hand to her face and rubbed his fingers across her cheek.

"rest well, oki?" hyesung said. "i…I'll try to come visit you again." he then stood up and left the room.

Hyesung walked out of the hallway just in time to see minwoo finishing up mopping the floor. Minwoo rinsed the mop out and then placed the mop back where he found it. Minwoo looked up at hyesung.

"let's go. Kei's gonna sleep now," hyesung said.

"oh yeah? I wanna go inside to say bye to her first," minwoo said. Minwoo washed his hands, wiped them dry, and then walked into the hallway to kei's room. Hyesung remained in the common area. His thoughts wandered back to the sight of kei's bare back, to his sudden desire to touch it lovingly…

his thoughts were interrupted when minwoo cam back out of the hallway.

"let's go," minwoo said. "she must be real tired. She's dead out." Minwoo headed for the door, and hyesung followed him out the apartment.

"hey, did kei change clothes or something?" minwoo said. "she was wearing different clothes."

Hyesung didn't look at minwoo. "yeah…she changed into different clothes…"

Eric let himself into the apartment and set his keys onto the hook near the front door. He loosened his tie and trudged to kei's room. He slowly pushed open the slightly opened door and peered inside, expecting to see kei asleep. Instead, kei was wide awake and sitting up in her bed. Her eyes zoomed over to eric as soon as she spotted eric at the door.

"eric," she whispered.

Eric let himself into the room and walked to the bed. As he neared kei's bed, he noticed that her face was tear-streaked. Eric quickly sat down on kei's bedside and looked at kei, a questioning look on his usually expressionless face.

Kei stared up at eric through her wet eyes. she then slowly and painstakingly pushed herself so she was sitting up in bed. She then looked back up at eric.

"eric…I need to ask you something…a favor…a big favor…"

chapter 62

junjin let himself into the apartment, kicked off his shoes, and walked over to the kitchen. He opened the fridge.

"what the heck, what happened to all the orange juice? It was a full carton this morning!" junjin exclaimed as he pulled out a carton with a centimeter of juice left in it. He downed the remaining juice and then threw the carton away. he then left the kitchen and walked into the hallway. He bumped into eric.

"hey eric wussup," junjin greeted.

"hey."

"how's kei? She oki now?"

"she's fine."

"good." Junjin smiled. "I'm gonna go see her now."

"actually, no. kei's sleeping now, and I don't think you should disturb her."

junjin looked at eric. "oh, oki. I just wanna take a glance at her."

"kei told me specifically to tell you not to do that."

"what? She did? Why not?"

"junjin, I know that you've already confessed to kei that you liked her. I personally don't think it's a very smart move."

"why?"

"cuz she's sick, and she has a lot on her mind already."

"but…I won't even wake her up. I just want to see—"

"no. not even that."

Junjin looked at eric confused. But when he saw the serious expression on eric's face, junjin sighed. "fine. I'll leave kei alone." Junjin then walked into his room and closed the door. Eric kept his eyes locked on the closed door. He let out a sigh.

"eric…I need to ask you something…a favor…a big favor…"

eric silently stood in his spot, looking at kei.

"can…can…can you help me…keep everyone away?"

eric was slightly surprised at her request, though he appeared unaffected.

Kei looked down at her hands. "i…I know it's kind of weird, but…but I feel so much…so much pressure now…junjin, hyesung, and dongwan. today was just… just…just so confusing for me. first junjin came this morning, then hyesung visited, and dongwan called. They all told me the same thing, and…and…and I dunno what to do…I dunno…"

Eric still stood silently next to kei's bed.

Kei looked up at eric, into his eyes. she continued. "I mean…junjin…i…can't see him in the same way that he sees me, but I don't have the heart to tell him… hyesung…I dunno…he's hurt me so much in the past that I dunno…and dongwan… I've already told him that I want to be alone, but…but I see him so hurt and it hurts me so much inside…i…I just want to be alone now…" kei reached up and placed her hand on her throbbing head. She squeezed her eyes shut and more tears streaked down her already tear-stained face. "…alone…"

"I'll help you."

kei looked up eric. "you…you will?"

eric nodded. "I will…"

"I'll help you," eric said under his breath. He then walked out of the hallway to the kitchen.

"oki class, your compositions will be handed back to you next week, but let me mention, from what I've heard so far, everyone's done a fine job. That's all for today. I'll see you next Monday."

The class got their belongings together and left the classroom.

"hyesung, can I speak with you?" professor jo asked hyesung. Hyesung stuffed his papers into his bag and walked over to professor jo.

"yes professor jo?"

"yes. I've talked with my friend from the music company, and he's interested in having an intern at the company. How about it?"

hyesung's eyes widened. "really? An intern?"

professor jo nodded. "it's a good start. What do you say?"

hyesung smiled. "i…I seriously don't know what to say."

Professor jo laughed. "shall I take that for a yes?"

Hyesung nodded his head. "oh yes! This is great!"

Professor jo laughed again. "great!"

"what's so amusing?" a voice asked.

Hyesung and professor turned around to see who the source of the voice was.

"why kangta! What a pleasant surprise!" professor jo said.

"hello professor jo. Just thought that I'd stop by and pay a visit."

"that's very nice of you," professor jo said happily.

Kangta flashed a grin back at professor jo. His eyes then darted over to hyesung, and he saw an angry and hostile look on hyesung's face.

"my my. I have two very gifted students standing before me now. To just think, when you both go into the music industry, if you both work together, think of the wonderful music you two would produce."

"ooohhh…so hyesung's considering the music field, huh?" kangta said with an inquisitive tone. He then laughed. "well, I suppose we could become partners or something. But…" kangta glanced at hyesung's facial expression. "I dunno if hyeusng would agree to work together with me. he seems so…competitive… ambitious" kangta faced professor jo and smiled. "I'm afraid to go into music now. I'd probably lose to hyesung."

hyesung slowly exhaled a breath. He then sneered. "oh, I'm sure that if the competition gets too rough for you, you'd just handle it like you usually do…just go give the competition a beating."

A seemingly surprised look came upon kangta's face. "what do you mean?"

Hyesung narrowed his eyes. "you know exactly what I mean."

"whoa hey, what's going on here?" professor jo said. "why the face, hyesung? What do you mean give the competition a beating?"

"oh nothing. It's just that our kangta here has his ways in dealing with his competition…physically."

Kangta narrowed his eyes at hyesung. "whatever do you mean, shin hyesung?"

Anger flickered in hyesung's eyes. "you know EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!" and with that, hyesung raised his arms and shoved kangta, sending kangta stumbling back a few steps.

"hey hey hey! What's the meaning of this, hyesung?" professor jo demanded.

"you ask him, mr. Star-student ahn chilhyun! He's exactly the reason why I was gone for a whole week!"

professor jo turned to kangta. "kangta, can you give me an explanation?"

kangta looked at hyesung. He then faced professor jo. He laughed.

"haha. Ahh, is this the whole story about how you think that I beat you up or something like? The story that you told soo yung?" kangta said in a jeering tone.

"story? You know well that it's true," hyesung replied.

"what? Kangta, you hit hyesung? That doesn't seem likely," professor jo said.

"I know, professor jo. I would never hurt anyone," kangta defended himself.

"unless you can't get your way, then you get physical," hyesung retorted.

Kangta narrowed his eyes at hyesung

"hold on. Hyesung, this is no light allegation you're making. I find it hard to believe, yet I don't see a reason why you would be lying. Is there something that can prove your statement?"

hyesung was silent. He then lowered his head, a look of frustration on his face.

"well? If not, then I don't know how I can believe your words.

Hyesung gritted his teeth. His eyes then shot up to kangta, who, out of professor jo's sight, had a sneer on his face. hyesung then spun on his heel and briskly walked out of the classroom.

Professor jo turned to kangta. "kangta, is what hyesung said true?"

Kangta looked slightly aghast. "professor jo, do you really believe that I would lay a hand on a fellow classmate?"

"no. let's just hope not. Do you hear me?" professor jo said in a stern voice.

"oh of course." Of course, kangta silently mocked to himself.

Ring ring. Ring ring.

"hello?"

"hello, uh, eric? it's me, dongwan. um…can i…can I speak to kei?"

"no."

"…"

"kei's sleeping now."

"um, oki. I guess I'll just call later."

"actually, no, you shouldn't call later."

"what?"

"kei wants to be left alone. She wants some time to herself. I believe that she already told you that when she broke up with you, right?"

"…um…yeah…"

"good. I hope you respect kei's wished from now on. Please stop harassing her. kei's been through enough already. Good bye." And with that, eric hung up the phone. He let out a long sigh. He then turned and walked down the hallway towards his room. He stopped in his tracks. He found junjin standing outside kei's room looking in. eric walked up to junjin.

Junjin saw eric walking up to him and gave him a slight nod. "don't worry, I'm just looking in, I'm not gonna go in." junjin then turned and looked into the room again at the sleeping kei. Junjin let out a sigh.

"gosh. Look at her. she doesn't look just sick, but she looks…stressed. Sigh. I guess I shouldn't have tried to, um, ask kei…sigh…I think I made her even worse. I feel so bad now." Junjin then faced eric again. "eric…do you…do you think that I would have a chance with her?"

eric looked at junjin, not answering.

Junjin lowered his gaze. "I guess I don't. I mean…why in the world would kei like someone like me? she had dongwan before…she used to like a person like dongwan before…or that seh-hung guy. When he was sick here, she seemed to take real good care of him, almost as if she really did …and back in high school, she used to hang around minwoo a lot, right? Gosh…where in the world would I fit in? mebbe I should just…give up…"

Eric blankly stared at junjin. Junjin then let out a loud sigh.

Eric then clapped his hand on junjin's shoulder. "mebbe it's for the best."

Junjin nodded. "yeah." He then raised his head. "I can do this." He looked up at eric and smiled. "I've brushed off many girls before. Kei's just another girl. I can get over her just as easy."

Eric nodded. He then gave a light punch to junjin's shoulder. "that's the junjin I know."

Junjin nodded. He took one more glance back into kei's room and then turned around and headed for his room. Eric watched as junjin disappeared into the room and closed the door behind him. Eric then looked into kei's room. He eyed the empty water pitcher and went into the room to fetch it.

"…I'm so sorry…junjin…" a soft voice said.

Eric looked over to the bed. Kei was still laying in her bed, appearing as if she was still asleep.

Only…a single fresh tear was slowly making its way down her cheek…

A few days later…

"ARGH! It makes me so mad!" hyesung cried. He threw his backpack roughly onto his bed.

"whoa hey, calm down, the backpack did nothing to you, did it?" minwoo said, sitting on his bed and looking up at hyesung.

Hyesung paced back and forth through the room, raking his hands through his hair, ready to pull his hair out. He walked up to window and stared out, placing his hands on the windowsill and leaning his weight on them. He then raised his right arm and pounded the sill hard.

Minwoo's eyes shot open. "whoa, hyesung, calm down. Seriously, what's bugging you?"

"that sorry excuse for a human being, no, for an existence on this planet," hyesung said through gritted teeth.

"you must be referring to my history professor then."

"NO! I don't even know who your history professor is!"

"dude, calm down. I know you're talking about kangta. I was just kidding."

"uuggghh! I just makes me so mad that he was able to do what he did and get away with it! No one believes a word I say! Professor jo thinks that I'm lying, and now he's treating me like some kinda liar or something. And everyone else just looks at me like a loser, like I have this stupid grudge against kangta for nothing. They all think that he's a good boy and that he would never beat me. why is everyone so friggin' blind!"

minwoo sighed. "I know, hyesung. Soo yung was telling me that she told her boss, kangta's uncle, what he did to you, but her boss won't believe her either."

"ARGH! Gosh, why does everyone think that I'm the bad guy? What did I ever do to him? Because of his utter stupidity and jealousy, I have to be looked down upon as the villain, the one that wanted to start trouble! Argh! I'm just getting sicked and tire-"

ring ring. Ring ring.

Hyesung cut himself off when he heard his cell phone ring. He growled and snatched the phone out of the receiver. "hello? This is hyesung…I'm sorry, can you please hold? My dorm room has bad reception…" and hyesung left the room, the phone stuck to his ear.

minwoo stared blankly before him. "it really makes me wonder about that day…if I was really attacked or not…if it was kangta…"

a few moments later, hyesung came back into the room. Minwoo looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. Hyesung, contrasting to his mood earlier, had a smile on his face.

"what happened to you?" minwoo asked.

Hyesung looked at minwoo and smiled even wider. "I'm one step closer to my dream…"

Soo yung looked weariedly the various photographs while she stuck them in the big album that rested before her. her lips were set in a straight and unhappy frown. She looked up to the door as she heard the snapping and clicking noises from inside the shop, of raymond doing a photo shoot.

I hear the clicking noises all the time…but…raymond said…that he would teach me to take photos professionally…but he hasn't…is it because of…?

Ding ding.

Soo yung looked up as she heard the ringer on the door go off. A head of brown hair stepped through the door.

"good after—you!" soo yung cried.

Kangta looked up at soo yung with a smug look on his face. "why, who else you expect?"

Soo yung narrowed her eyes. "your hair's not on fire anymore."

"yeah." Kangta started brushing his fingers through his hair. "since you detested me before, I thought mebbe it was the hair and I decided to tone it down…I figured that you may like guys with brown hair, right?"

"it doesn't matter if you have brown hair or green hair or medusa snakes coming out of your head. I don't like you, so will you please leave me alone!" soo yung said, irritated.

"aww soo yung. There's no need to get so upset. I'm just come to see you everyday because I don't think I can really leave a beauty like you alone."

"you can pull that line on a more gullible and desperate girl. Kangta, I have a boyfriend, meaning that I'm not available. Your coming here is not accomplishing anything except for straining my relationship with raymond. Because of you, raymond is giving me a cold shoulder. Are you happy now?"

"of course not. Uncle raymond's giving you the cold shoulder? You want me to talk to him? I'll do it…only…" kangta bent over and placed his hands on the desk. He held his face close to soo yung's. "if you promise me a date…"

soo yung stared up at kangta. "no. all I wan't you to do is leave me alone. Stay away from me. how much more clearer do I need to be?"

kangta stood back straight up. "suit yourself, soo yung. Don't say I didn't try to help." He then turned around and walked to the door. He reached the door and stopped. "but until I get that date…" he glanced over his shoulder and looked at soo yung. "…life's not gonna be a smooth ride for you, yoo soo yung." He then gave her a smug smile and left the shop.

Soo yung started to breathe heavier and heavier. She felt like screaming. She felt like tearing out her hair. She felt like disappearing so wouldn't have to ever see kangta's face again. she heaved a big sigh.

"what am I going to do?"

"kei, you're out of bed," junjin said happily.

"yeah," kei said with a half-smile. "I got sick of staying in bed and in my room all day. I needed to get out."

Junjin smiled. "yes, that's so true. I'm glad you feel so much better now."

Kei nodded. "I am too." Kei looked around the apartment. "where's eric?"

"he's in the shower now. Um, kei, listen…"

kei looked up at junjin. Junjin was staring intently back into her eyes, and kei shifted a little uncomfortably when she saw his eyes.

"um…about, about a few days ago…i…I'm sorry…i…I shouldn't have, um, taken advangtage of you when you were sick. And yes, I understand that you've been through a lot and I shoulda known better."

"um…um…" kei stuttered. "i…I'm glad you…you do…cuz…cuz I feel much better just…just being…being…friends…with…you…" kei trailed off. She lowered her eyes, away from junjin's gaze.

They stood in their spots, unmoving. Kei grew very nervous.

Suddenly, junjin took kei and hugged her tightly. Kei's eyes widened in surprise at junjin's sudden gesture. Junjin then released his hold on kei and stood back. He let out a loud sigh. He then raised his eyes to kei.

"all right. Friends," he said. A small smile then spread across his face. "I'm…I'm cool with that. Forever friends, no matter what. Right?" junjin said, looking into kei's eyes with his own bright eyes.

kei looked back at jujin, a bit confused. She searched his face for any pain or rejection, but she only found his bright cheery eyes looking back at her. his usual cheery self. Kei smiled.

"forever," kei said.

Junjin then stretched his arms out to her, and kei walked up to him and gave him another hug.

Kei smiled. I'm glad junjin's so understanding…

Junjin, out of kei's sight, had a sad frown on his face. you're very special, kei. If you want to just be friends, then…I guess we'll just have to be friends. I just hope you realize that I will think of you more than just an ordinary friend…you're a special friend…a special friend…

Chapter 63

"today's the last day of class," hyesung said as he packed his bag to go to class. "I dunno whether to be glad or sad. I'm glad cuz I now probably won't have to see that idiot's face again. but…I did like the class…even though I was only a TA…"

"geez…I didn't think that you would like putting up with all the students or something…" minwoo said.

Hyesung gave an inquisitive look and then shook his head. "actually, I kinda liked teaching the students. They were actually pretty good. I got to hear some of their compositions, and they weren't bad…"

"weren't bad eh?"

"yeah…not bad…"

just…not as good as kei's…

an unsettled look came upon hyesung's face. kei hadn't showed up to class for almost two weeks now. Professor jo mentioned that he wasn't going to be able to give kei credit for the course because of her elongated absence.

But her composition…it was so good…

"what's wrong with you? you have this lost look on your face now," minwoo said.

"huh? Oh, nothing. I'm gonna go now." Hyesung slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"oh hey, lemme go with you downstairs. I have to go check to see if I got mail or not." Minwoo got up from his bed and walked over to hyesung.

"oki." They both walked out the door.

"so…has kei showed up for class yet?"

hyesung shook his head. "nope. She still has not come to class yet. I, uh, I guess she's still sick."

"hmm…it's been a while since we've gone to go see her. wanna go visit her today?"

hyesung didn't answer as he and minwoo made their way down the stairs. "I dunno…i…"

"aww come on hyesung. What's the problem?"

"nothing. It's just tha—AAHHH!"

hyesung fell from the third to last step to the ground level. "OOF!" an immediate pain throbbed in his right knee.

"hyesung!" minwoo ran down the remaining steps and knelt by hyesung's side. "are you oki?"

hyesung pushed himself up. "I'm…I'm oki," hyesung answered, slightly grimacing. "can't believe I fell down those steps."

"dude, you seriously all right?"

"yeah I'm fine. My knee hurts a lil bit, but I'm cool." Hyesung placed his hand on minwoo's shoulder and pulled himself up to his feet. "I gotta head to class now." Hyesung then began limping badly towards the front door.

A hand then clamped on hyesung. "I'm guessing you dun wanna go to the hospital again, eh?"

Hyesung shook his head.

"sigh. Look, if you're so hard set against going to the hospital and want to go to class, lemme go with you. I'll make sure that you don't collapse on the way, oki?"

hyesung looked at minwoo. "are you sure?"

minwoo nodded. "I have nothing to do today."

Hyesung smiled. "thanks man."

"here, lemme take your bag." Minwoo then took hyesung before he could protest. Hyesung then shook his head. "mebbe I should hurt my other knee too so you can carry me to school everday next year."

Minwoo glared at hyesung. "you're not THAT special, shin hyesung."

They both laughed and then headed to hyesung's class. Within 15 minutes, they finally reached the building of hyesung's class and they entered the classroom. Hyesung looked up to find professor jo standing in front of the classroom, about ready to conduct class. The students in the classroom also glanced back at hyesung entering the room with minwoo.

"sorry professor jo. Sorry I'm late," hyesung said.

"last day of class and you're late. You may be good at music, but you sure aren't good in punctuality," professor jo said.

"well, better late than never. I kinda hurt my knee this mor—" hyesung stopped short in his sentence when he glanced at his usual seat, which was now occupied.

Occupied by a brown-haired kangta.

Hyesung fumed and erupted. "do you have a life, ahn chilhyun? Don't you have better things to do?"

Kangta stood up from the seat and faced hyesung.

"hyesung, would you like to bring your temper down in my classroom?" professor jo said.

Hyesung's continued to blaze in fury. "you expect me to be calm with him in here?"

"hey man, come on, let's go outside," minwoo said. He took hyesung by the shoulders and nudged him out of the classroom. Hyesung walked backwards out of the room, his enraged eyes never leaving kangta's smug eyes.

the two reached outside the classroom.

"hyesung, why did you just explode in there? You think that yelling and screaming like that will get your professor to believe you over kangta?"

"no, but it's just that when I see him, I immediately feel like exploding! He's a like a friggin' leech! He won't leave me nor soo yung alone!"

minwoo grew silent as hyesung mentioned that kangta was also harassing soo yung.

The classroom door opened and kangta stepped out of the classroom. Minwoo held hyesung back from charging at kangta.

"gee, aren't you glad to see me," kangta said.

"yeah, I'd be glad to see you in your grave right now," hyesung hissed.

"oh tsk tsk. Such vulgar images. Is your music this violent too?"

"not as violent as you are."

"me, violent?" kangta said with fake disbelief, placing his hand on his chest. "oh, why in the world would you think that?"

"don't play stupid be with, kangta. Just cuz soo yung is my friend and won't give you a second look, you decided to try to take care of it the barbaric way."

"hyesung, calm down!" minwoo said to hyesung, but hyesung paid no heed to minwoo's words.

Kangta laughed. He then walked up to hyesung. "oh puh leeze. Don't think so highly of yourself, shin hyesung." He glared into hyesung's furious eyes.

"what, like you?" hyesung retorted.

"hyesung, get a grip on yourself," minwoo warned again.

a sly grin spread across kangta's face. "and besides," kangta said, his voice in a challenging tone. "What do you have that I don't have? Huh? What is it that she sees in pathetic fools like you two that she doesn't see in me?"

minwoo's eyes widened.

…What is it that she sees in pathetic fools like you that she doesn't see in me?…

minwoo stared back up at kangta. "it was you…"

kangta looked at minwoo. "what in the world are you babbling about?"

minwoo released his grip on hyesung and stared straight into kangta's eyes. "it was you…it was you who took me out of the hospital that day…who started to beat me up when I was drugged…it was you…"

kangta's eyes darted side to side and then stared back at minwoo. "I dunno what you're talking about."

"IT WAS YOU!" this time it was minwoo's turn to shout.

"what are you talking about? Hospital? Beat you up? I, I don't even know you."

"it makes sense now. You found out that I was soo yung's boyfriend, so you took me out of the hospital that day and started to beat me. it makes so much sense now,""minwoo said, anger raising in his tone.

"what? That makes NO sense! The both of you make no sense."

Professor jo stepped out of the classroom. "hyesung, kangta, we really need to talk about this. This is starting to get out of hand."

"professor jo, can you believe this? Now they're BOTH accusing me of attacking them," kangta said to professor jo.

Professor jo looked at minwoo. "and you are…"

"lee minwoo," minwoo stated, his eyes not leaving kangta.

"lee minwoo, I don't know what you and hyesung have against my student kangta here. It's—"

"professor jo, why don't you believe us? Why would I lie to you?" hyesung asked frustrated.

"hyesung, I would like to, but you're accusing kangta of assaulting you, and you really don't have anything to base that on."

"that's cuz I couldn't come to school with all the bruises and wounds I had to show you," hyesung said.

"dude, you coulda gotten those bruises anywhere," kangta said. "pretty soon, you're probably gonna blame me for your knee injury too."

Hyesung looked up at kangta.

"and it's ridiculous how you," kangta continued, now looking at minwoo, "are accusing me of something that's totally absurd as what you were telling me. and let's say that even if I did assault hyesung. Why would I take you out of the hospital to assault you and risk getting caught?"

"because you're stupid like that…" a new voice said from a distance.

All four heads turned to the direction of the voice. All but kangta's eyes widened.

"lim kei!" professor jo called out. "what a surprise!"

kei slowly walked up to the small group, with eric walking by her side.

"kei, oh my gosh, you're here," minwoo said, turning to face her.

kei didn't answer to minwoo. Instead, she walked up to kangta and stared at him in the face.

"who are you?" kangta said.

Kei didn't answer kangta. She remained staring at kangta in the eyes. kangta stared back at this strange girl.

Kei then broke off the gaze and turned to professor jo.

"professor jo. I can prove that what hyesung and minwoo are saying are true," kei said in a tired voice. "I heard with my own ears kangta saying that he assaulted hyesung and I saw with my own eyes kangta assaulting minwoo. I was also the one that tended to hyesung's injuries and the one who took minwoo back to the hospital."

Minwoo's eyes widened even more. "It really was you, wasn't it, kei?"

Professor jo looked at kei with an overwhelmed look. "kei…is what you're saying the truth?"

Kei nodded. "nothing but the truth."

"this is outrageous! Of course she would help out hyesung and minwoo since she's their friend," kangta defended.

Kei turned to kangta. "of course. I'd rather be friends with them than with someone who had a trash can dumped over him."

Kangta's eyes widened. Trash can…it was her!

"trash can?" professor jo asked, confused.

Kei turned back to professor jo. "professor jo, if you want to know the whole story, I'll be happy to tell you and even show you the places. Just as long as you believe hyesung and minwoo now, because they are speaking the truth."

Professor jo looked at kei. "um…" he looked around at all the faces looking at him. He then sighed. "we'll deal with this later. Right now I have a class to run." Professor jo looked back at kei. "are you here for class today, kei?"

Kei nodded. "I'm sorry for not attending class for the past week or so. I was sick with the flu."

"kei, because of your absence and not turning your composition in, I'm afraid that I will not be able to give you credit for taking this course," professor jo said in a solemn voice.

Kei nodded. "I understand. I guess I'll just have to take this course again."

Professor jo sighed. "I'm sorry, kei, I really don't want this to happen. But it just wouldn't be fair to the other students…"

"it's oki, really. I really wouldn't mind taking this course again during the year."

Professor jo nodded. "I'm going back in. if any of you want to come back in, I hope for you to come in and leave this whole issue outside the classroom." Professor jo then walked back into the classroom and closed the door.

Kei then looked back at kangta. Kangta was looking at her with venomous eyes. kei then smirked.

"what, kangta? You going to beat me now too, now that I blew your 'perfect-boy' cover?"

kangta exhaled a breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"oh you can stop pretending, kangta. Yeah, I was the one that dumped the trash can on you and I was the one that punctured your tire. I'm not afraid to admit what I did. Are you, kangta?"

kangta stared at kei with a deadly glare. Kei didn't back away and stared back at kangta.

"gosh, are all plain girls like you this prissy?" kangta said.

"are all pretty boys like you as stupid as you are? I guess we'll have to perform a genocide and do this world a favor," kei said.

Kangta continued to glare at kei. He then glanced up at the other pairs of eyes staring back at him. He scoffed, and then without saying a word turned on his heel and walked away.

As soon as kangta was out of sight, kei bent over, placing her hands on her knees and started to breathe hard. Eric walked up to her.

"I'm oki, eric. just a lil queasy," kei assured him.

Eric nodded and then helped kei stand up straight again. kei then turned and faced hyesung and minwoo. Kei spotted hyesung standing completely on his left leg.

"what happened? Is there something wrong with your leg?"

hyesung didn't answer.

minwoo laughed. "geez kei, you're not exactly in perfect condition yourself, yet you seem to notice if someone else's conditions first. That part of you hasn't changed. The part that's changed is your bravery. My gosh, you seemed like a totally different person when you were telling off kangta. What happened to the old shy kei?" minwoo asked in disbelief.

Kei smiled bashfully. "I dunno. I guess just seeing kangta makes me mad."

"hear hear," minwoo agreed. He then walked up to kei and gave her an unexpected hug. "thank you, kei. I now know for sure that it was you who saved me that day. Thank you so much. I owe you my life. Thank you for dumping that trash can on kangta or whtever you did."

Kei patted minwoo on the back and released herself from the hug. "no need to thank me. you don't owe me your life."

"but I do. And hyesung too. You saved both our lives."

"I just did what any friend woulda do. I mean, he assaulted the both of you, my…friends…" she lowered her head as she said the last part.

Minwoo cautiously turned his head to face hyesung when he heard kei's statement. Hyesung had a blank look on his face, not showing any apparent emotions on his face.

An awkward silence fell upon the four. Kei began to feel very comfortable. "um, eric, I don't think I'm gonna go to class. I failed anywayz. Can you take me home?" kei asked.

eric nodded.

Kei turned to minwoo and hyesung but didn't look at them. "bye minwoo. Bye… hyesung." She then turned around and walked with eric back the direction they came from. They disappeared into the parking lot to where eric parked his car.

Minwoo looked at hyesung. "hyesung, why are you letting kei run away like that? Don't you want to tell her how you feel about her?"

Hyesung sighed and shook his head. "there's no point."

"what? Why you say that?"

"why tell her when she doesn't feel the same way for me?"

"what do you mean? How can you be so sure?"

"I've already confessed to her before, minwoo. I didn't know her answer, but now…now she made it clear…that she only thinks of me as a…a friend…"

minwoo abruptly grabbed hyesung's arm. "you idiot! Come on!" minwoo started to drag hyesung.

hyesung looked at minwoo. "what are you doing? Where are we going? We're not going to class?"

"screw your class. we're going to kei's place. my instincts tell me that kei's does not merely think of you only as a friend. you're going to tell her again, whether you like it or not."

Eric and kei rode in the car in silence. Eric stared blankly at the road while kei stared out the window. She watched as the trees slowly went from before her to behind her as the car passed through the residential area.

Kei finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, eric."

Eric continued to stare forward.

"you have to put up with me…with my problems. I'm so screwed up and stupid."

"don't call yourself stupid," eric said.

"but I am. And I'm dragging you into this whole mess. I feel so bad."

Eric made a right turn. "don't feel bad. I made a promise to you, and I'm keeping it."

Kei looked up at eric. she sighed. "thank you so much, eric."

Eric just grunted in response.

Kei returned her gaze to out the window. "hopefully you won't have to do any more for me."

They finally reached the apartment and eric pulled into the his parking spot. They got out of the car and walked to the front door. As they neared the front door, they noticed that there was a figure standing outside the door. The figure was leaning against the wall, hands in pockets and head lowered. The figure that was shorter and stockier than junjin…

"…dongwan…?" kei asked in disbelief as she realized that it was dongwan standing outside the door.

Dongwan looked up as he heard footsteps. He spotted eric and kei and he stood straight up.

"dongwan? what are you doing here?"

"kei…" dongwan's eyes shot up to eric briefly and then returned back to kei. He reached out and took kei's hands. Kei looked at dongwan in surprise.

"kei…I know that you said that you wanted to be alone now. But…do you know how hard it is for me to go with that? Everyday is torture for me, to not be able to be with you. I don't think I can go on like this anymore…"

"dongwan…please…don't do this…" kei begged, shaking her head.

Dongwan pulled kei into a fierce hug. "please, kei. Please give me, give us, another chance."

Kei continued to shake her head.

"please, kei. Plea—"

"please dongwan." kei broke out of the hug and stepped backwards. "just leave me alone and move on. You can do it."

"no, I can't leave you alone! It's not as simple as that!"

"what's going on here? What's with all the noise?" another voice said. Junjin came out of the apartment dressed in a wifebeater and flannels. "what the…? Eric? kei? dongwan?"

"go home, dongwan," kei said softly.

Dongwan ran his hands through his hair and then placed his hands on his face. his shoulders began to shake and he started to weep. He bent his knees…

"dongwan!" kei cried.

Dongwan dropped to his knees. He dropped his hands from his faces and let his tears flow freely down his face and drop to the ground.

"please kei. I'm begging you. I will kneel here until you say you'll be back with me."

"oh my gosh dongwan…" kei was speechless.

"yo, dongwan…don't you have any self-respect? Any pride? You're a grown man and you're on you knees…" junjin said.

Dongwan shook his head. "I don't care. If it's for kei, then I'll do anything."

"no dongwan, no. please don't do this."

Dongwan continued to kneel before her. kei bent down and tried to pull dongwan up, but dongwan stubbornly stayed on his knees.

"not until you give me a good reason why I shouldn't kneel here, I will not get up," dongwan said.

Kei froze. "dongwan, please…" kei's eyes started to water. "please get up…"

"I won't. not unless you come back to me," dongwan said in a desperate voice.

"…i…I…can't…." kei whispered.

Dongwan raised his teary eyes up to kei. "…why not, kei? Why not? Weren't you happy before? Did I not love you enough? Did I not show you how much I cared? Huh? What did I do wrong?"

Kei shook her head. "no dongwan, it's not you. it's not you."

"then what is it? Tell me, why can't we be together? Why is it that you don't love me? why do you love someone else?"

kei stared at dongwan. she then lowered her head and slowly stood up to her feet. Her eyes darted nervously from side to side, junjin on her left and eric standing on her right. Her heart thumped rapidly in her chest and she felt her eyes start to burn as they started to moisten.

No…don't cry…not now…

"I'm…sorry…dongwan…I do love…someone else…" kei slowly said in a weak tone. "I can't love you anymore…be…because…i…love…I love…eric…"

dongwan rose his head in a flash. His eyes were wide with shock. "wh-wh-what?"

junjin had simliar wide eyes. "what? You…you like eric?"

kei kept her head low so she could avoid their gazes. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Oh my gosh, what did I get myself into now? she thought to herself, suddenly disoriented.

Suddenly, something warm wrapped around kei's waist. Kei looked up with surprised eyes to see eric holding kei around the waist.

"yes. Kei and I are together now, so she can't be with you," eric said in a plain tone.

Dongwan blinked in disbelief. He was shocked beyond belief. He looked up at kei. "is…is…is this true? You…you and eric?" he stuttered.

Kei stared back at dongwan with sad eyes. she stared at dongwan kneeling before her, staring up at her with his sincere and desperate eyes. she was near breaking down in deep sobs herself at the sight of dongwan.

Do not cry, kei. You know what you have to do.

"…yes…it's true…"

dongwan slowly lowered his gaze. He continued to stay in his position for prolonged minutes. Finally, he slowly got up to his feet. Kei's eyes followed dongwan's body as it rose.

Dongwan kept his head hung low. He sniffled. Then he turned around and slowly walked away from the front door, away from the apartment complex. Kei watched his retreating figure until he disappeared.

Suddenly, kei heard a door slam loudly from inside the apartment. Kei looked to her left and found that junjin had already disappeared into the apartment.

Oh no…junjin… kei realized. She raised her hands to her face. "what have I done?"

Eric squeezed kei's waist. "it's for the best."

It was then that kei released the abundant tears from her eyes. she began to sob violently against eric's chest, in his arms.

Off in a distance, two figures started to head away from the bush they were behind…one of them limping…

Chapter 64

Minwoo followed hyesung quietly, afraid to say anything. Hyesung was limping very badly now, but minwoo was afraid to approach hyesung with help. Minwoo was shocked at the scene that he just saw back at kei's apartment, and he can just imagine how devastated hyesung was now.

"I'm…sorry…dongwan…I do love…someone else…" kei slowly said in a weak tone. "I can't love you anymore…be…because…i…love…I love…eric…"

how can that be? Minwoo thought to himself. When did she ever start liking eric? all this time I coulda sworn that she liked hyesung. Did she really move on and like eric now? makes sense, she's been living with him all this time, feelings could have developed…but something's bugging me about this…something's just not right…

minwoo continued to follow hyesung silently all the way back to the dorms.

Eric led kei to her room and guided her to her bed. Kei wasn't sobbing anymore, but she was still sniffling

"e-e-e-rrr-ic…" kei said, her voice very unstable. "c-c-c-cannn….y-y-ooouu… hiccup…can you…clll-o-o-se the d-o-o-o-r-r-r…"

without questioning, eric got up and closed the door. He then walked back to kei and sat down next to her on the bed.

Kei took in a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down. She lowered her head even more and shut her eyes.

"I'm…I'm…I'm sorry eric…I'm so sorry…" she said.

A reassuring arm draped around kei's shoulder. "it's oki, kei."

"no it's not oki!" kei cried, shaking her head vigorously. "I don't know…I don't know why-why I s-said w-w-what I d-did…b-but I r-r-real-ly p-p-pulled you in th-th-this time….i-I'm s-so s-s-sorry…" a fresh batch on tears sprung up in her eyes.

eric wrapped his other arm around kei and hugged her softly. "It's oki, kei. I promised you to help you, and I will help you."

"but it's so un-fari hiccup to you…"

"no. it's not unfair. I'm keeping my promise. Don't worry about it too much, kei. I'm oki with this. If this will keep everyone away from harassing you, then it's oki."

"but…but…junjin…"

eric sighed. Junjin had obviously not taken the news well. He was going to be a problem. "don't worry. I'll take care of junjin."

Kei started to cry again. "I'm so sorry, eric…so sorry…"

Eric tightened his grip on kei and started to rock her back and forth to ease her cries, to soothe her worries, to reassure her that she was not alone…

Soon her cries ceased and reached up and wiped her wet face. "i…I'm going to sleep now…"

Eric nodded. He then helped her into bed and tucked her in. he smoothed her hair out. "rest easy, oki?" he said.

Kei just simply closed her eyes, a melancholy look on her face as she drifted to sleep. Eric stood up and then left her room.

As he closed kei's bedroom door behind him, he heard the front door slam. Eric let out a loud sigh.

"junjin…"

ring ring. Ring ring.

Eric walked out to the living room and picked up the phone.

"hello…"

"eric?" a rough voice said.

eric's eyes widened.

"dad?"

"soo yung?"

soo yung looked up from her desk and saw minwoo standing at her door. "minwoo… come in…"

minwoo walked into the door and came up behind soo yung. He wrapped his arms around soo yung and hugged her from behind. "soo yung, we have a problem."

"what? What problem?"

"it's hyesung…"

soo yung grew frightened. "did kangta do something to him again?"

minwoo shook his head. "it…it's kei."

"kei?" soo yung asked, confused.

Minwoo let go and then sat down on the bed next to the desk. "kei…kei's going out with eric now."

"what?" soo yung cried in disbelief. "she's going out with eric? how did that happen? When was this?"

minwoo shook his head. "I don't know when it started, but hyesung didn't take the news too well."

"kei told him?"

"no…" minwoo then explained to soo yung the day's event, starting from when hyesung hurt his knee to the scene outside the classroom to scene outside kei's apartment.

"I had dragged hyesung to her apartment to get him to talk to kei. But…when we got there, we saw eric, kei, junjin, and dongwan outside the apartment. Dongwan was on his knees crying—"

"on his knees? Oh my gosh…"

"yeah. He was real desperate in getting kei to forgive him and to give him a second chance. But…but she told him no, cuz she was going out with eric."

"I can't believe this…"

"and poor hyesung. I saw the saddest look I've ever seen on his face. i…I think he really really liked kei…mebbe even to the point of loving her…"

soo yung sighed. "my poor hyesung. Where is he now?"

"he's in the room now, sleeping. He walked all the way from kei's apartment here on that bad knee. I'm afraid of what's going to happen to that knee."

Soo yung placed her elbows on her desk and rested her forehead on her fingertips. "what a mess…"

"tell me about it…" minwoo murmured in agreement.

Eric got out of his car and slammed the door behind him. He looked up at the dark night sky. It was unusually covered with a layer of gray unpleasant looking clouds. Eric sighed. He then looked before him at the bright lights of the club before him.

Eric walked into Night Dust and the guard at the front door recognized eric right away and let him pass. Eric walked into the familiar settings, but this time with a different aim than to dance and have fun.

"oh eric! you're here!"

eric looked to his side and spotted amy. She was dressed in a pink backless top and black capri pants. She hurriedly trotted over to eric.

"hey amy."

"how are you tonight?"

eric merely shrugged.

"well, I hope you're in a better mood than junjin is now. there's something different about him tonight."

Junjin…so he IS here… eric thought to himself.

"I mean, he's drinking and dancing and having fun with the girls and everything. But…I don't know. He doesn't seem like his usual self."

"I see. Where is he now?"

"oh, he's not at the usual table today. He's in one of the VIP rooms today. I believe he's in there with one of my new girls, rachel."

"thanks." Eric over to the VIP room section.

His thumb caressed the outline of her face and she shivered. He laughed at the girl's reaction.

"what was your name again?" junjin asked, his words slightly slurred from the alcohol he had consumed.

"…rachel…" the girl answered timidly, shying away from his touch and gaze.

Junjin stared at the shy girl. He smirked.

Quiet…and shy…just like how she was… he then scooted even closer to rachel and draped his arm over her shoulders. Her bare and exposed shoulders felt so smooth to his touch. "tell me, rachel…do you like me?" junjin took a swig of liquor from the bottle he had in his hands.

Rachel huddled her shoulders even more and lowered her head even lower. She took some nervous glances at junjin, sensitive to the fact of how close he was to her now. "…yes…I've always liked you, junjin…i…I think you're a great dancer…"

Junjin threw his head back and laughed. He then stared very intently into rachel's eyes. "oh really?…but…hiccup…but…burp…but you're…you're a much better dancer than me…"

Rachel shook her head. "no, no. I can't dance at all."

"yes you can. I saw you! I saw you dance! With min—min… what's his name?"

rachel shook her head. "I've never danced when I worked here. I can't dance."

Junjin continued to gaze into rachel's eyes. he laughed again. "that's what you always did. Say that you can't do something but you hiccup really can. In high school I never thought that you were anything more than a quiet bookworm. But now… now…I really like you…"

Rachel looked at junjin. "what?" she asked.

"I really like you…I really like you," junjing repeated as he lowered his head to hers, making her lay back on the couch. He roughly brought his lips to hers and plunged his tongue into her mouth, not allowing her to protest or reject. He rested his body on top of hers, sandwiching her between him and the couch. She began to squirm underneath him and tried to shake her head, to get him to stop. Junjin ignored her response and began clawing at her halter top. He moved his mouth from her mouth to her neck.

"no junjin! No! don't do this!" rachel cried when her mouth was free. Junjin didn't hear her cries. He finally ripped off her top and moved down to her skirt. He took it off with ease.

"junjin no!" rachel cried again. "somebody help me!"

"I really like you…you have no idea how much I do…" junjin murmured in jumbled words.

"help me!"

junjin started to unbuckle his belt.

The next thing he knew, a pain flew across his face and he was looking up at the ceiling from the floor. A crushing headache came down upon him and he moaned.

Eric shook his hand to relieve the pain from punching junjin across the face. he then looked over to the girl on the couch. She was crying and trying to gather her ripped clothes together to cover herself. eric took off his button-down shirt and threw it to her.

"wear that," he simply commanded.

Rachel put on the large shirt and tried to button it up, but her hands were shaking too much.

Eric sighed. He walked over and took junjin by his collar. Eric pulled junjin up and dragged him out the door. Eric looked around and spotted amy.

"amy, rachel's still inside the room. Go take care of her," eric stated to amy.

Amy looked at eric and junjin with confused eyes and then rushed over to the room. Eric continued to drag junjin by the collar and took him to the men's restroom. Eric glanced around and saw that the restroom was empty.

Good, he thought to himself.

He then forcefully hauled junjin over to the sink, stuck his head in, and turned the cold water on his face.

"ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" junjin cried as he felt the cold water striking upon him.

Eric roughly let go of junjin and stepped back.

"look at you now, junjin! What are you thinking? I can't believe that you are stupid enough to almost rape a girl," eric reprimanded.

Junjin abruptly stood up and faced eric. "well I guess I AM stupid huh! Stupid enough to think that I could take care of kei, to be with her, to tell all this to MY BEST FRIEND WHO WENT BEHIND MY BACK ANYWAYZ!"

"junjin, come on—"

"no eric! I know that I'm too stupid and immature to care for kei. You know that too, that's why you took the liberty to go for her first!"

eric went up to junjin and gripped his collar. "junjin, listen to me. how did you expect kei or me to tell you, huh? How, tell me!"

"by just telling me before this whole mess started, before I started liking her!"

eric let go of junjin's collar. "junjin, you're just making it hard on yourself."

"you're not making it any better for me yourself," junjin rebutted as he staggered across the restroom floor. He stumbled and fell on the tiles.

"you think being like this will win kei over? You think if she saw you like this that she would come to you? If I were her, I would pick any other guy over you!" eric said.

Junjin looked back up at eric. "especially you, right?"

Eric's neck grew tense. He hated to see his best friend like this. "so what do you want me to do, junjin? What do you want me to do?"

Junjin glared at eric. "…I want you…and kei…to disappear…to leave…"

Eric stared at junjin blankly. Calmly, he spoke.

"fine…you got it."

Hyesung stirred awake to find himself in his own bed. He stared up at the ceiling, listening to the silence that surrounded him.

"I'm…sorry…dongwan…I do love…someone else…" kei slowly said in a weak tone. "I can't love you anymore…be…because…i…love…I love…eric…"

the same line played over and over again in his ears. The more that it repeated in his ears, the more agitated he became.

"argh!" he cried. He then pushed himself up, only to find himself fall back onto the bed crying in pain.

"ahhh!" he wailed, grabbing his knee. He immediately let go when his knee pulsated even more when he grabbed it.

There was a sound of a lock being opened, and the door opened and minwoo and soo yung stepped into the room.

"hyesung!" soo yung cried as she saw her friend grimacing in pain. She rushed over to the bedside. "are you oki? What's wrong?"

minwoo walked over to the bed. He threw off hyesung's covers and rolled up hyesung's pant leg.

"ooh, this doesn't look good. It's swollen really bad."

Soo yung reached for the phone. "that's it. I don't care if he doesn't want to go to the hospital or not, I'm going to call 911." She dialed the phone number and called for an ambulance.

Minwoo looked at hyesung. "pull through, oki buddy?" he said. Not just cuz of the knee…but cuz of kei too…

Hyesung just grimaced in pain.

Kei woke up in her bed and found herself staring in the direction of her bedroom window. It was dark outside.

It's night already. Time passes by so fast when I sleep. Mebbe if I keep sleeping, I'll be able to sleep away…until…until i…die…

She realized that her right arm was numb from sleeping on it. She rolled over, sat up in bed and shook her arm to get the blood flowing through it again.

Suddenly, kei heard the front door slam from outside. She then heard heavy footsteps tread through the apartment, through the hallway, past her room and then another door slam. She knew the door to be eric and junjin's bedroom.

A few moments later, there was knock on her door. She looked up and saw eric coming into her room.

"eric…" kei said.

"can I come in?"

"of..of course."

Eric slowly walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He walked over to kei's bed and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"kei…I have to ask you a very, very important question…I want you to think very carefully about your answer, cuz your answer can change your life."

Kei blinked in confusion and grew slighty afraid. "wh-what's the question?" she asked timidly.

Eric let out a long sigh. He looked down at his hands, and then raised his head up to kei again.

"kei… will you throw away you present life…school, friends, everything…and move out and live with me?"

chapter 65

"…mr. Shin has really seriously damaged the functionality of his right knee. I'm afraid he is going to have to keep off of that knee for quite a long time, most likely for years."

"what? It's not just a popped knee or a sprain, Dr. joo?" soo yung asked.

Dr. joo shook his head. "I'm afraid it's more serious than a popped or sprained knee. He's going to have to stay in a wheelchair."

"a wheelchair? It's that bad?" minwoo questioned, shocked.

"I will prescribe some painkillers and other medication and write up a recommendation for a physical therapist. Mr. Shin really needs to stay off his knee. Absolutely no pressure can be put on his leg."

"I see. Um, thank you dr. joo," soo yung thanked.

Dr. joo nodded, and then left the room.

Soo yung looked at minwoo. "this is not good," she said.

Minwoo shook his head. "not at all…"

"…ugh…"

soo yung and minwoo turned around to see hyesung stirring awake in his hospital bed. They walked over to the bedside.

Hyesung opened his eyes. "where am I?" he asked.

"the hospital," soo yung answered.

"hospital?"

"don't worry…the devil's father's not your doc," minwoo said.

"what am I doing her—ahhh!" hyesung cried in pain.

"that…is why you're here," soo yung said, pointing to his knee.

Hyesung looked down at his knee and grimaced. He then laid back in bed. "you guys know when I'm supposed to leave? I wanna get outta here as soon as possible. I have to meet the music company tomorrow."

Soo yung and minwoo looked at each other.

Hyesung scrutinized their reaction. "hey, what's with that? Why are you guys hesitating and giving that weird look? Am I not gonna be able to leave soon or something? What?"

Soo yung and minwoo faced hyesung again. soo yung spoke. "hyesung…we don't know exactly when you'll be able to leave, but when you do…when you do…" soo yung trailed off, not knowing if she could go on or not.

Hyesung got impatient. "what? What are you trying to say?"

Soo yung looked at minwoo, a worried look on her face. minwoo looked at hyesung and sighed.

"hyesung…when you get out…you're going to be…in a…wheel…chair…"

…………

…………

…………

"…what…?" hyesung asked softly when the message registered in his brain.

"hyesung, please…" soo yung said.

"…what did you say? Did I hear right? Did…did you just say that I'm going to be handicapped?" hyesung said in a deadly, quiet voice.

"hyesung, don't—"

"no…no, you're lying…" hyesung interrupted.

Soo yung and minwoo were silent.

"you're lying…you're lying you're lying YOU'RE LYING!" hyesung erupted and picked up his blankets and threw them at soo yung and minwoo. Soo yung and minwoo began backing away as hyesung started to grab everything within reach and throw them at soo yung and minwoo.

"GET OUT YOU LIARS! GET OUT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACES! GET OUT!"

soo yung and minwoo retreated out the room.

"bye hyesung," soo yung said before she left the room, a sad look on her face. minwoo then closed the door behind them.

minwoo and soo yung stood outside the door. Soo yung wiped at her eyes that were starting to tear. Minwoo silently wrapped his arms around soo yung and hugged her.

"it's oki soo yung, it's oki. Hyesung will pull through. Just have patience with him and have faith in him."

Soo yung let out a wavy sigh. "what did he do to deserve this?"

Minwoo shook his head. "nothing. Nothing at all. But just pray that he'll be strong, oki?"

soo yung sighed again. "strong…" she whispered. "please be strong, hyesung. Be strong."

"i…I don't understand, eric…you're…you're going to, move out? What…what do you mean with your question?" kei asked, utterly confused.

Eric sighed. "I know that this is very sudden, kei, I don't blame you." he ran his fingers through his dark hair and rubbed his face. he faced kei again.

"let me explain this to you. my father is a businessman. He runs a big business that expands into foreign countries like japan, hong kong, england, blah blah blah. Anywayz, for his whole life, he's wanted me to help take over the business instead of what I wanted to do…"

"to form a dance group…" kei said.

Eric nodded. "yeah…and…and I didn't want to do that…but…he's grown really ill now. i…I don't think he's going to be able to last for very long…"

"oh…I'm sorry eric."

"I mean, I was never close to my father…and normally, I would have just told him to ask my uncle to take over instead or something, but…but seeing that I may not be welcome here for very long, being that this is junjin's aunt's place, I guess it'd be for the best that I go…"

"what? You're…you're gonna leave and dump your friendship with junjin like that?" kei asked, shocked.

"no. I would never do that. I would never want to dump my friendship with junjin. It's too important for me to just throw away like that. It's just that…my father also needs me, and seeing how things here are now, this would be a good time for me to leave and let junjin alone. And…junjin doesn't want me here anymore…I think it'd be the best thing for me to do. And…he…um…it's hard for him to face you too…"

Kei blinked. "…this is…this is all my fault…" tears formed with every blink.

"no it's not. I dunno…even if all that's happened here didn't happen, my father woulda still been ill and I still would have to make this decision. Who knows, I may have chosen to do the same thing."

"so…so you're set? You're set on helping out your father?"

eric nodded. "and I'm asking…if you want to come with me…"

"…why…? Why do you want me to go?"

eric reached out and took her hand into both of his. "because I know that you're tired. I know that you want to get away from it all. That you want a break. And you deserve a break. And I'm offering it to you now." he looked up into kei's eyes.

kei stared back at eric with glossy eyes.

a break?

Hyesung stared up into the dark room. All was silent except for the city noises that sounded from outside the window. A soft breeze blew in from outside.

"hyesung…when you get out…you're going to be…in a…wheel…chair…"

newfound tears sprung in his eyes.

"why me? why me? why now? now I'll never fulfill my dream. Why? Why?" hyesung cried himself to sleep.

"hyesung? Hyesung? Wake up hyesung…" a soft voice urged.

Hyesung slowly opened his eyes, tired and dry from the crying the previous night. He opened his eyes to find minwoo and soo yung standing before him.

He frowned. "what are you guys doing here this early?"

"hyesung, it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It's not early," soo yung said.

"so? I'm still sleepy. Leave me alone."

Soo yung sighed. "hyesung, I know that you're still upset about your knee. And I know that you're supposed to go meet that music company guy today."

Hyesung looked away. "it doesn't matter now," he said with an upset voice. "it's all over now."

"I wouldn't say that," soo yung said.

Hyesung turned his head to soo yung and saw that she was smiling. "what are you smiling about? Are you indulging in my misfortune here?" he snapped.

"actually, I would consider it more fortune instead." Soo yung turned around, and on cue, minwoo stepped to the side and revealed a man dressed in a suit standing behind him.

Hyesung became confused. "who…?"

The man stepped up and held out his hand. "hello Mr. Shin hyesung. I'm Lee SooMan from SM Entertainment. I'm professor jo's friend."

Hyesung's eyes widened. He absent-mindedly shook Lee SooMan's hand.

"I've been informed of your condition. And that's what brings me here," Lee SooMan continued.

soo yung smiled even wider, and she felt a nudge from the side. She turned and looked at minwoo.

"come on, let's go outside and let them talk," minwoo said.

"awww…" soo yung pouted, but she smiled. "all right." Soo yung and minwoo then left the room, closing the door behind them.

"this is great!" soo yung said. "hyesung's gonna be able to work in the music company after all."

Minwoo nodded in agreement. "I'm really glad we called mr. Lee. I didn't think that he would be so, uh, understanding? I dunno. But it looks like things are going to look up for hyesung."

"yeah…" soo yung's smiled disappeared. "it's just that…his leg…"

minwoo frowned. "I know. But…hey, he's strong. He'll pull through. If franklin d. roosevelt could be the president of united states in a wheelchair, hyesung will sure be able to become the manager of a big company in wheelchair."

Soo yung smiled and nodded. "that's right. We should have faith in hyesung."

Minwoo smiled and kissed soo yung on the cheek. "that's right. Have faith. He'll pull through."

"hmmm…you said that kei witnessed kangta beating you and heard kangta say that he beat hyesung too?"

minwoo nodded.

"hmmm…you think that I can get her to talk to raymond? Cuz he's become so cold to me now and I really don't like it. All cuz he won't believe that his angel nephew is actually a devil."

"mmm…wanna go ask her?"

"mmm…I guess. Sooner the better."

"let's go."

"kei?"

kei looked up from her computer and saw eric standing at the door. Eric walked into the room, holding an envelope in his hands.

"yes eric?"

eric looked down at the envelope and then up at kei. "I got the airline tickets."

Kei's eyes widened. "al…al…already?"

eric nodded. "they're one-way tickets to Tokyo on August 14 at 12 noon."

"august 14th? That's…that's in 4 days…"

eric nodded. "I know it's real soon. But…it's really urgent that we move out soon."

Kei stared at eric with round eyes. she lowered her face.

Eric sat down on the bed and faced kei. "look, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to. You don't have to go with me."

Kei shook her head. "it's not that…it's just that…everything's just going so fast…i…I feel as if…as if I'm running away from my problems here, you know?"

Eric nodded. "I know. Believe me, I know exactly how you're feeling. Look, we're not going for very long. We'd be just going to go until december to settle things in my father's business. Then we can come back here and settle things here when things have cooled down. Just 4 and a half months."

Kei nodded. "I know. It's just that it's so soon…"

"tell me your answer by tonite, oki? I need to know by tonite…"

kei nodded. Eric then got up. kei looked up at eric. she stood up and wrapped her arms around eric.

"I really appreciate everything you're doing for me. I'm sorry I can't do the same," kei said as she embraced eric.

eric wrapped one arm around her back and returned her hug. "it's all right. I'm supposed to be your boyfriend, remember?"

kei laughed and stepped back from eric. "oh, and I'm real sorry about that. That stupid lie got us into this whole mess. And now you can't find a girlfriend on your own. You're stuck with me."

eric shrugged. "wasn't planning on looking for one now anywayz. Mebbe it's not so bad after all."

Kei sighed. "I really wish that you could have gotten with yoojin. You woulda been a great guy for her."

Eric also sighed. "yeah well, I wish I did too. But I guess we just weren't meant to be, huh?"

Kei gave eric a sympathetic look. She then gave an empty laugh. "and now you're stuck with me, how unfortunate."

Eric smiled. "hey, it should be pretty fortunate for me, to snag the girl that everyone's after."

Kei glared at eric. "hey, don't make fun of me now…"

"oki oki. But seriously…I wouldn't mind being with you…but…I know for a fact that the one you like…is not me…"

kei's smile disappeared. At seeing the change in her expression, eric smiled and left the room.

"the one you like…is not me…"

kei closed her eyes. within the darkness behind her eyes, she saw an image of a familiar face appear.

……

ding dong. Ding dong.

The door opened and junjin appeared from behind the doorway. Minwoo and soo yung gulped.

"what do you guys want?" junjin said rudely.

"um…is…is, uh, is kei here?" soo yung asked.

Junjin glared at soo yung. "who wants to know?"

"junjin, come on. We need to talk to her," minwoo said.

Junjin turned his glare to minwoo. "well she's not here. Would you mind getting away from my property? I should tell kei and my so-called friend to do the same." With that, junjin slammed the door.

Soo yung faced minwoo. "I don't think he's in a good mood."

"I smelled alcohol."

"yeah…I sense a hangover."

"boy am I glad I don't live here with them. I can just imagine how tense it must be in there now."

"poor kei. Poor junjin. He wasn't real nice just now, but I can understand why he's like that now."

minwoo sighed. "it's just a big mess."

"I know. When is it all going to straighten out?"

minwoo shook his head. "I dunno."

Junjin walked back over to the couch to where he was originally and plopped down on his back. The headache pulsated through his head again and he closed his eyes and grimaced.

Soft thuds headed toward his direction and he growled.

"go away," junjin said, knowing it was either eric or kei.

There was a moment of silence. A succession of a thuds walking away from him then followed.

Junjin smirked to himself. Good, he thought. He rested his arm across his closed eyes and went back to sleep.

Kei looked back at junjin laying on the couch. A sad expression dwelled on her face.

He really wants us to go away…

Chapter 66

The next day…

"come on dr. joo. I'm really all better. Can I please be released from the hospital?"

"now now, mr. Shin. Taking care of that knee's really important."

"I will! I mean, I'm already gonna end up in a wheelchair, it's not like I'll be able to walk around on it. What more do you have to do here?"

"mr. Shin, we really cannot hurry the examinations and tests that we have to perform on your knee."

"sigh. Fine fine. When's the earliest that I can be released from here then?"

"I can release you in two days. How about that?"

"why not tomorrow?"

"you really don't like staying in the hospital, do you?"

"oh what makes you think that?" hyesung said in a sarcastic tone.

Dr. joo chuckled. "oki oki. But Thursday's the earliest, no arguing. You should really stay a lot longer."

"oki oki. I'll settle for Thursday."

Dr. joo shook his head. "I'll be back later to check up on you. you rest well, mr. Shin."

"thank you dr. joo."

Dr. joo then exited the room.

Hyesung laid back against the bed and sighed. He thought back to the previous day, how he talked with lee sooman about working for the company. Hyesung closed his eyes and sighed.

"this is my chance. This is my opportunity to reach my goal," hyesung said to himself. "nothing will stop me…nothing…not even…" hyesung frowned when the picture of a well-known face popped up in his mind. He shook his head. "no…not even her…"

ring ring.

"hello, music department."

"hi, I would like to speak to professor jo please."

"this is professor jo speaking."

"hi professor jo, it's lim kei."

"oh hello kei. You disappeared yesterday."

"yes, I wasn't feeling too well, so I didn't stay for class. I just want to mention that even though I didn't pass the class, I really enjoyed it, professor jo."

"I'm glad you did. And your not passing is not because you deserved it. I want you to understand that because of your long absence however, I could not give you a passing grade because it would not be fair to the other students."

"I understand."

"you are actually probably the best student in the class, the one with most potential."

"really?"

"I'm speaking the honest truth."

"that's very flattering of you professor jo."

"you are planning to take this course over again are you? the pace of the class during the year won't be as intense because there will be more time."

"uhhh…" kei didn't know how to answer about repeating the course.

I might not even be in the country to take the course again…

"well? Are you going to take the course again? you should really pursue music, kei. You really have the talent for it and you appear to enjoy it. But this course acts as a prerequisite for many of the other courses and you really need it."

"I know professor jo. I, uh, I just have to figure out my schedule for next year, that's all. I'll try to work it in."

"that's good to hear."

"listen, professor jo, the reason I called is regarding the issue between hyesung and kangta."

"ahh yes. You were supposed to explain the story between those two."

"I would be happy to go over to your office to explain it to you. I won't be able to go over there now, but I think it would be better if we spoke in person. Is later tonight oki?"

"later tonight is fine. I have to matters to tend to now. but I do have a night piano class tonight from 5-8. You can come by after the class, how about that?"

"yes. I'll be there at 8 o'clock tonight. Thank you professor jo."

"no problem. I will see you in a bit then."

"thank you professor jo." Kei hung up the phone and looked at her watch. "4 o'clock. I'll go take a nap now, and then wake up later today to go see professor jo."

7:52pm…

kei drowsily woke up and looked at the clock.

"oh my gosh, I'm late!" without second thought, she rushed out of her bed, hastily washed up and headed out of her apartment.

kangta sped down the street in his car. With one hand on the wheel and the other grasping onto the clutch, he stared forward at the approaching road, his eyes set in an angry glare.

"I can't believe it. That ugly chick saw me at BOTH times! Argh! If I can just get my hands on her now!" kangta cried. He came to a stop at a red light.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar face at the corner of the street, waiting at a bus stop.

Lim kei…

Kangta's eyes darted around.

"no one's around…"

kei waited at the corner, looking for a bus.

Sigh. I just realized how little time I have left here. Everything's going by so fast. So much has happened. Gosh…who knew that moving back to my hometown, going to university…that so much would happen…and now things are going to change…a new life…but first…I have to take care of a few things…before…before I—

"AAAHHHH!"

everything went black.

Eric came out of the hallway and spotted junjin slouching on the couch watching TV.

"junjin, have you seen kei?"

junjin snorted. "how would I know? Shouldn't you know where your own girlfriend is?"

"junjin, I'm asking you nicely. Do you know where she is?"

junjin stared blankly at an infommercial playing on the TV screen. "she left the apartment. Said something about meeting a professor."

Silly girl, it's so dark outside and she didn't even ask me for a ride. "when did she leave?"

"I dunno…"

"junjin! This is important!" I have to know her answer now…

"I dunno…10 minutes ago?" junjin replied frustrated.

Without another word, Eric got his coat and hurried out of the apartment.

Soo yung straightened out the papers on the desk and placed them neatly in a stack at the corner. She looked up at the clock and sighed. 8 o'clock. It was an hour past her shift. she had been staying over her time for the past week to hopefully make raymond notice how much she really liked her job and how she was willing to stay behind. What she really wanted to do though…

She glanced over across the room and spotted a camera, the one the raymond frequently used during his photo shoots with the models that came. Soo yung got up, walked across the room, and cautiously picked up the camera.

She turned the camera around in her hands and observed its structure. She held it up to her eye and looked through the viewfinder. She imagined herself photographing with the camera. She smiled at the thought…

"you really want to learn how to photograph professionally, don't you?"

soo yung jumped at the sudden voice, nearly dropping the camera. She looked up and saw raymond standing at the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. Soo yung stared blankly at her boss, not knowing what to do.

Raymond walked across the room and approached soo yung. He took the camera out of soo yung's hands and held the camera firmly in his own.

"it's a beauty, isn't it? The camera itself is a beauty, as well as what it can do is beautiful too. Don't you think?" raymond said, staring at the camera in his hands.

Soo yung nodded. "I believe it's a beautiful thing too."

Raymond sighed. "I'm sorry, soo yung. I had promised to teach you to take pictures too so you could help me out. But…but I haven't kept up to my promise."

Soo yung shook her head. "it's oki. I mean, it's not your job to teach me…though… I would really like to learn…"

Raymond laughed. "I know I haven't been exactly friendly towards you these past few days. I mean, I've watched chilhyun ever since he was a baby, and it's so hard to believe the stuff you said about him."

Soo yung frowned. "I'm sorry raymond, I can't exactly say that I'll take back what I said, because it's really the truth, but I am sad that it's caused this, this tension between us."

Raymond nodded. "I know I know. I mean…you're a real good worker, soo yung. I don't know what I would do without you working here. And though I still disagree with what you say, I suppose that I shouldn't let that interfere with business." Raymond looked up at soo yung and smiled. "business is business. I will teach you about photo shooting tomorrow. How about that?"

Soo yung's eyes widened. "to-tomorrow? Really?"

Raymond nodded. "really."

Soo yung broke out in a grin. "thank you so much raymond!"

"no problem. Soo yung…have you ever considered becoming a professional photographer?"

soo yung looked at raymond with round eyes and eagerly nodded. "I think I do, raymond. Ever since I started working here, I've wanted to become one."

Raymond smiled. "well, I guess this is a good start, isn't it?"

Soo yung nodded again and grinned. "a very good start…"

Kei stirred awake and slowly opened her eyes. as her vision cleared, she found herself in an unfamiliar bedroom. She felt behind her head at the spot where her head and neck was connected was throbbing with pain. She slowly pushed herself up and sat up on the unfamiliar bed. She looked around. The room she was in was very spacious in size, but also cluttered at the same time. Clothes were strewn all over the place. men's clothes. A newfound fear developed within kei.

Where am I? Kei asked herself, afraid.

The sound of water running came from behind a closed door straight before kei. It then stopped and the door opened.

Kei's eyes widened and she scooted back in the bed.

Kangta smirked at her reaction.

"not so brave now eh, superwoman?" he remarked. He sauntered to the bed, slowly unbuttoning the buttons of his shirt.

"what am I doing here?" kei asked, fear in her voice.

"what are you doing here? Why, accompanying me, that's what," kangta replied, now sitting on the bed and inching closer and closer to kei.

"get away from me or I'll scream," kei threatened.

"scream all you want. Everyone will just think that I'm just knocking you up."

"what do you plan to do with me?"

"exactly just that." And with that, kangta whipped his hand across her face.

kei turned on impact and fell on the bed. She got up and scurried away, but kangta quickly dropped his whole body on hers and held her down.

"not so tough now huh? No one's gonna help you this time, lim kei."

"let me go," kei said, frightened.

"you know, millions of girls would die to be lying in my bed with me on top of them now. but instead, you get to be it. I never knocked up a plain-looking girl before. But I guess there's always a first time for everything…let's see if ugly girls are better in bed…" he then grabbed her collar and ripped her shirt open.

"HELP!" kei screamed.

"no one can hear you, so just can it," kangta said. He then buried his face next to kei's head and sucked on her neck.

Kei struggled and tried to squirm away, but kangta had her completely pinned down. Kei felt kangta sink his teeth into her neck and she screamed.

Kangta lifted his head away from kei and stared at her with narrow eyes. evil, hungry eyes. "HAHA! Yup, I have to say that you do scream louder…" kangta laughed. He lowered his face to hers. "it turns me on…" with that he crushed his lips onto hers and invaded her mouth with his tongue. His tongue roughly entangled with hers. His bare hands felt and explored her bare upper torso. Kei started to beat on kangta's back with her free hands. She bit down hard on kangta's tongue.

"OOOWWWW!" kangta backed his face away from kei's face. he then raised his arm and slapped kei hard across the face, making her go unconscious.

Kangta saw kei fall out of consciousness and smirked.

"good. Less of a struggle now."

he lowered his face to her neck again and indulged in it again. his hands explored the bare skin of her body easily without the struggle and protest from before. He felt and kneaded her forbidden areas. He reached down and unzipped her jeans and slid them off. He laughed to himself.

"for a girl like you, you wear some pretty panties." He slid them off too and wedged in between her legs. He stared down at her laying unconscious on his bed.

"this is what you get for messing with kangta, ahn chilhyun." He unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants.

The door flew open and eric charged in and threw a blow across kangta's face. kangta fell off the bed from the force of the impact. Kangta became immediately dizzy from the blow.

Eric hurried over to kangta and started punching him across the face multiple times, shouting out curses as he did. Once eric saw that kangta was seriously hurt and near unconsciousness, eric stood up and hurried over to kei.

"I gotta stop doing this, saving girls from getting raped. I'm gonna go nuts soon," eric muttered to himself. He took off his jacket off and wrapped it around kei. He quickly put her bottomwear back on and carried her out of the room.

the door bursted open.

"open the door any harder and I'll have you pay for breaking it!" junjin yelled from where he sat on the couch, still staring at the TV.

"and I'll have you pay for kei's hospital bills if anything happened to her," eric retorted back as he carried kei into the hallway to her room.

"what?" junjin got up from his seat and saw eric disappear into the hallway, carrying kei's body. "what the…?" junjin rushed to kei's room. he saw kei laid unconscious on her bed, a stain of dried blood that had trickled from her mouth. "what happened?" junjin asked.

"she was about to get raped, that's what," eric bluntly and angrily stated.

Junjin stood with his mouth wide open, shocked. He didn't dare to take one step into the room. instead, he stepped away from the room, still shocked at the news.

Kei, almost raped? Oh my gosh…and…and I could have prevented it too…oh my gosh… junjin looked back up at eric and kei. He then slowly turned and walked into his own room and closed the door.

Eric got up from the bed and got some clean and more comfortable clothes. He quickly changed her into the clean outfit and set her down into the bed again. He walked to the bathroom and get a damp washcloth. He rushed back into kei's room again and started to wipe kei's face with the cloth.

"my gosh. My poor kei," eric said.

Kei's face started to move side to side and her eyes fluttered open. As soon as they were wide open, she started to squirm.

"no no! get away from me! help me!" she screamed, flailing her arms to fight eric off.

"kei! kei, it's oki, it's me, eric!" eric said, grabbing her arms. Kei still continued to try to squirm away from eric, and then eric pulled her into a tight embrace. "it's me, kei. Everything will be oki," eric whispered softly into her ear.

Kei stopped resisting eric and just fell into his arms and sobbed loudly. "eric…eric… help me…help me…"

"it's oki…you're safe now. no one's going to hurt you now. I won't let anyone hurt you now. and if you come with me to japan, you'll be safe, oki?"

kei nodded her head against eric's shoulder and proceeded to cry. Eric held the hysterical kei in his arms and tried to soothe her.

"you're safe now."

chapter 67

"hey hyesung, how are you doing this morning?" minwoo said as he sauntered into hyesung's hospital room. hyesung, instead of being in the bed, was sitting in the wheelchair and sitting next to the window staring outside.

Hyesung looked up to minwoo. "is that cheeseburgers and fries I smell?"

Minwoo laughed. "well yeah. I'd figure that one of the reasons why you don't like hospitals is cuz of the food here so I figured that I should stop by a burger joint and pick something up for you. hungry?"

"yeah! The food here's horrible. I mean, Jello every meal? Come on now." hyesung wheeled himself over to where minwoo was and took the bag of food from him.

"all well-acquainted with the chair eh?" minwoo said.

"might as well if I'm gonna be sitting in this cursed thing for who knows how long. I'm ready to get outta here."

"I see. Excited? I hear that you're gonna get out of the hospital tomorrow," minwoo said as he unwrapped a cheeseburger.

Hyesung dug his fingers into the fries and stuck a few in his mouth at the same time. He vigorously nodded his head. "oh yeah. I'm gonna go to work tomorrow too."

"what? Already? Aren't you rushing things?"

"rushing? Dude, I gotta start early if I wanna get to where I wanna be and nothing's gonna stop me…not even this stupid knee."

Minwoo laughed. "oki oki. That's good to hear. I'm glad to see that you're in a much better mood than you were a couple days ago."

"lemme ask you, minwoo. If you were to find out that you were gonna be handicapped for the rest of your life, you think you would take the news well?"

"you're not necessarily going to be handicapped for the rest of your life."

"but I don't know when I'm going be able to walk again," hyesung said with a sad look on his face.

minwoo spotted the sad look and then lightly punched hyesung on the arm. "hey man, don't go all sad on me now. you just got all better and everything."

Hyesung didn't answer. He started to feel his leg, his hand moving towards his bad knee.

Minwoo sighed. "look, don't let it get you down. You now have a good future ahead of you, with or without that knee. You just hang in there, oki? You can do it."

Hyesung looked up at minwoo and smiled. He nodded. "yes. I will do it. I will have my own music company and it will be the best in the WORLD."

Minwoo laughed. "right on, buddy. You do that."

"so where's soo yung today? She didn't want to visit me today? How mean of her," hyesung playfully said.

"oh nah. She would have, but she's at work now. she's learning how to do photo shoots from raymond now."

hyesung's eyebrows raised. "so she's cool with the idiot's uncle now?"

"yeah. I think she told me that he still dun like what she said about kangta, but she's too good of a worker to just let her do clerical work. Soo yung's thinking of becoming a professional photographer too."

"really? That girl with a camera in her hands? Oh great."

"why what's wrong with that?"

"that means she's gonna start practicing on us! A camera's gonna be in her hands 24/7, glued to her hand and eye, snapping embarassing pictures of us!"

"you know, now that you mention it…" minwoo said, getting a little nervous.

Hyesung and minwoo looked at each other and then gave a hearty laugh.

"seriously though, it's great. She now knows what she wants to do, and it's wonderful. I mean, now you and her have your futures down pat."

Hyesung smiled and then looked up at minwoo. "how about you, minwoo? Have you thought of what you wanted to do after school?"

Minwoo shrugged. "I'm not too sure myself. But whatever it is, I want dance to be incorporated in it."

"oh yeah? Well yeah, that should be obvious. That's the thing you do best."

Minwoo nodded and sighed. "wow…we're all only going into our sophomore years and already we're all thinking about our futures."

"hey, the earlier the better, right?"

minwoo nodded. "I just hope that I don't graduate still jobless."

Hyesung shook his head. "the great lee minwoo? Jobless? Nah."

Minwoo laughed and lightly punched hyesung on the shoulder again.

"stop punching me fool. I just healed man."

Minwoo laughed again and punched hyesung harder. Hyesung cried in pain and then threw his crumpled up burger wrapper at minwoo. It bounced off of minwoo's forehead and onto the floor.

"hey!" minwoo cried, feeling his forehead.

Hyesung grinned. "don't mess with the man in the wheelchair."

Kei woke up in her bed. She tried to roll over onto her right side but found herself sore in some areas. She felt inside her mouth that there was a chunk of her gum inside that was damaged. Images of the events the day before suddenly flooded her mind and her eyes began to flood with tears also. She immediately felt filthy and dirty. She scurried out of her bed, rushed to the bathroom, stripped her clothes off and ran into the shower. She stood in the spray of the burning hot water and rubbed her skin roughly, trying to get the icky feeling that she felt out of her. she cried and cried, her tears lost in the shower. She leaned against the tile wall and slid down to a crouching position. The picture of kangta on top of her trying to rape her played over and over in her mind. She rubbed her skin, pressing hard. the feeling of his hands all over her just wouldn't disappear.

"help me…help me…"

"yes father. I'm coming to tokyo on Friday. I'm, um, I'm coming with my, uh, girlfriend. Her name's lim kei. She'll be living with us too. No, she's very sweet, you'll like her," eric said into the phone as he stood in the middle of the living room with the cordless phone held in one hand and his other hand on his hip.

Junjin walked into the living room and spotted eric speaking into the phone.

"father, I'll give you a call when kei and I reach tokyo, oki?" eric then clicked the phone off and placed it back on the cradle. He looked up and found a shocked, angry junjin.

"you and kei are going to tokyo?" junjin said in a very intense voice.

Eric stood there staring blankly at junjin. "yes, kei and I are going to tokyo," he answered calmly.

"when was this? When did you two decide to go on a little honeymoon without telling me, huh? When did you two decide to DITCH ME AND LEAVE ME IN THE DARK!" junjin started to yell. With that, he turned and ran out of the apartment.

Junjin reached to the end of the corridor when he felt his arm get tugged.

"junjin, listen to me," eric said.

Junjin pulled his arm out of eric's grasp. "no, I'm never gonna listen to you ever again." he started to run away.

Eric ran after junjin and grabbed his arm again. "junjin, listen to me!" eric yelled sternly.

Junjin turned and swung his fist at eric's face. the fist landed on eric's jaw and eric's face turned on impact and let go of junjin's arm at the same time. Eric reached up and felt his lip, a trickle of blood trailing out the corner of his lip. He looked up at junjin and stood up straight. Junjin looked at eric, half angry, half surprised at what he had just done.

Eric stared dead into junjin's eyes. he lowered his hand from his face and stood motionlessly.

"I will let that be my compensation to you for being a bad friend. I guess I'm just not worthy of being your best friend now. that's why kei and I are going to move out of the place."

Junjin stared at eric, taking in deep breaths.

"right now, we're leaving for a few months. But…seeing how things are now, I may end up moving there permenantly. I don't know about kei. She can either come back here, or stay. We're leaving in two days."

Immediately, junjin's eyes widened. "t-two days?"

Eric wiped his finger along the edge of his lip, cleaning off the blood. Eric took one long glance at junjin. He turned around and walked back towards the apartment.

All anger and hurt disappeared from within junjin and now shock and disbelief took over.

"two days? So soon? You must be playing me. you guys aren't leaving. No way. Eric…and kei…leave in two days? Junjin himself rushed back to the apartment and rushed into the hallway and into kei's room.

"kei! Kei! I have to talk to you! kei!…kei?" junjin looked around the room to find it empty. "kei?" he exited the room and started looking around the apartment. She wasn't in the kitchen, living room, dining room, anywhere. Junjin exited the apartment and looked up on the roof. Still no kei.

"oh my gosh…" he muttered under his breath.

Junjin rushed back down and into the apartment. "eric, kei's not here!" junjin announced anxiously.

Eric came out of the room. "what?"

"kei's not here! She's missing!"

eric walked up to junjin, who was standing in the living room at the mouth of the hallway. "you sure?" eric scanned the apartment with his own eyes.

"yes, I've been all over the place. I even checked the roof."

Eric looked at junjin, who had a very worried look on his face. there was no look of worry on eric's face, but his eyes were filled with anxiety.

"where would the silly gir—" eric started to say.

"wait! I didn't check the bathroom!" junjin cried. He rushed past eric into the hallway to the bathroom. Eric followed closely behind him.

The door to the bathroom was closed. Junjin immediately started to bang on the bathroom door.

"kei! Kei, open the door! It's me, junjin! Open up!" junjin continued to bang on the door. He grabbed hold of the doorknob and started to roughly turn it.

To his surprise, the door opened with ease.

Junjin jumped in surrpise, but then soon rushed into the bathroom. Eric followed behind him.

"eric!" junjin cried.

The bathroom was empty.

"how's my buddy hyesung?"

hyesung and minwoo looked towards the hospital room door and saw soo yung waltz into the room. She walked up to minwoo as he reached out and placed his arm around her. she placed a peck on his face.

"hey, what's with this? Did you come to visit me or minwoo? How come the real patient here doesn't get a kiss?" hyesung playfully complained.

Soo yung laughed. She then bent down and placed a small kiss on hyesung's cheek. "happy now?"

Hyesung grinned. "now that's more like it. I should get those more often."

Minwoo gave hyesung a weird look. "not from me, right?"

Hyesung gave minwoo a disgusted look. "eww! Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but I don't swing that way."

Minwoo gave a fake disappointed face. "really? Shucks."

Soo yung lightly shoved minwoo. "I wouldn't let you anywayz," soo yung demanded.

Minwoo grinned at soo yung. "I know. I wouldn't either."

"so you've been here with hyesung all day?" soo yung asked.

"yup. Don't have anything else better to do," minwoo said.

"what? are you saying that it's better than being with me?" soo yung said, glaring at minwoo.

"well, you're never around now! you're always at work!" minwoo cried.

"yeah soo yung. I don't see you spending that much time your old buddy here," hyesung agreed.

Soo yung stuck out her tongue. "hahaha. I'm sorry guys, I was just kidding. I'm just so psyched now. I've been learning to do photo shoots now!"

Hyesung and minwoo both looked at minwoo with surprised and happy eyes.

"really? That's great babe," minwoo said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"good job soo yung. So the scum's uncle actually teaching you now?" hyesung said.

Soo yung nodded. "yeah. Raymond's really a cool guy. It's just that he loves his stupid nephew so much that he still won't believe me."

Hyesung scowled. "ugh. Just thinking about him makes me want to hurl."

"ditto," minwoo agreed.

Soo yung bit her lip. This would not be a good time to tell them that kangta's still coming to the shop… soo yung looked at minwoo. Especially to minwoo…he would freak… soo yung cleared her throat. "um, so hyesung, feel excited? You're gonna be out of the hospital tomorrow."

Hyesung's face brightened. "I can't wait. I'm gonna head over to the company tomorrow."

Soo yung became shocked. "what? Tomorrow? Don't you think you should rest a lil more and get better?"

"no. why should I wait? I don't think I can stand rotting in bed any longer than I have to. Now that I'm gonna do what I've been dreaming of doing…well, starting, at least….why should I wait? I wanna get started right away…I wanna reach my goal as soon as possible."

Soo yung smiled. "that's great. I'm supporting you all the way."

Hyesung smiled back. The only way to go now…is up…

She stared before her as loose strands of her hair blew across her face. her hair was slightly damp and disheveled, but she made no notion to straighten it out. She leaned back against the rough surface and looked up at the green leaves above her. the light shone down upon her and she closed her eyes as she soaked in the pleasant warmth of the sun. its warmth, however, couldn't fight off the filth that she still felt within her.

Suddenly, the warmth disappeared and she opened her eyes. instead of seeing the green leaves above her, two faces looked down on her.

"kei!"

kei suddenly found herself engulfed in a strong and fierce embrace.

"gosh, don't ever do that again! you scared the bejeezus out of me! if eric didn't guess that you would be here, we would have never found you and who knows what woulda happened!" junjin said as he held kei in his arms.

Kei slowly raised her eyes up to where eric stood a few feet away, looking down at kei. Kei then closed her eyes. she patted junjin on the back and lightly pushed him away.

"I'm sorry, junjin. Sorry I didn't tell you guys that I left the house," she softly apologized.

Junjin's look of anxiety turned into a look of sadness. "it seems like everyone's leaving me without telling me."

At that comment, kei looked up at eric again. their eyes locked, kei staring into eric's stony eyes with her own emotional eyes.

Without another word, junjin got up to the feet and briskly walked away from them.

Eric walked over and knelt down next to kei. Kei lowered her eyes to her hands.

Eric sighed. "look, if you don't want to leave, you can stay. I can go to tokyo myself."

Kei shook her head. "no. I'm gonna go. I can't stay here. No. I can't."

Eric rested his hand on hers. "look, it's going to be oki. You'll be safe. I'll watch over you."

Kei nodded. "thank you eric. thank you for everything." She raised her eyes to eric. "how'd you guess that I was here?"

Eric stared into kei's eyes. he looked shifted his eyes up the tree that she was leaning against, the tree that he had shown her.

"because I know that there is a lot on your mind now, and since you know that I come here when I want to clear my mind, I knew that you would be here."

The corners of kei's lips curved up a bit but a sad expression remained on her face. "you know me too well. It's as if you were my REAL boyfriend."

"…too bad I'm not someone else, right?"

kei raised her eyes to eric. she blinked, and a single tear slid out of her eyes.

"…i…I don't…even…know…now…."

ring ring. Ring ring.

Junjin let himself into the apartment and heard the phone ring. He sluggishly made his way over to the phone and picked it up. "hello?"

"junjin? Hey, it's me andy! I'm bored right now. wanna go to the arcade?"

"…" junjin didn't have the spirit to answer to andy's innocent and happy tone of voice.

"junjin? Junjin, what's wrong? Are you there? Hello? Why aren't you answering me?"

"…eric and kei are leaving…"

"eric and kei are leaving? Where are they going?"

"they're leaving for tokyo tomorrow…"

"TOKYO? WHAT! AS IN TOKYO, JAPAN TOKYO! WHAT THE? WHEN WAS THIS?"

junjin didn't answer andy's excited questions. Junjin simply removed the ear from his ear and placed it softly onto its cradle. He slowly lowered himself into a squat and placed his face into his hands.

"oh my gosh oh my gosh OH MY GOSH!" andy cried as he jumped back and forth across his room.

"what are you so excited about? What's going on?" dongwan asked as he let himself into the room.

"oh my gosh dongwan you won't BELIEVEwhat I just found out! Kei and eric are going to tokyo! Tokyo japan tokyo! Tomorrow!" andy stared at dongwan with wide eyes, seeing what dongwan's reactions

dongwan stared blankly back at andy. He blinked a few times and then let out a small smile. "when's the flight? I guess that means we should send them off, huh?"

andy looked at dongwan, shocked and dazed. "huh?" andy placed his palm on dongwan's forehead. "are you oki, dongwan? how come you gave no reaction? Tell me that I didn't hear what I just heard. Are you oki?"

dongwan lightly brushed andy's hand away and gave a small laugh. "of course I'm oki. I mean, sure, I was sad about kei not being with me anymore, but…but I can't mope forever, right?"

andy looked at dongwan with round eyes. "am I talking to the same dongwan here? The dongwan who had gone out for the past nights straight getting drunk and everything? The one, the HEAVY one that I had to LUG all the way back here? The one that proclaimed to love kei with all his heart?"

dongwan hesitated. He then sighed. "yes, I HAD loved kei with all my heart, and I still do. Just, she doesn't love me with all her heart and I'm gonna let her go…out of my love for her."

andy looked at dongwan with a dazed look. He then shook his head. "um, I guess, if that's how you feel now. um, you want me to find out when the flight is?"

dongwan gulped, but he nodded again.

andy gave dongwan one last look and then reached for the phone and turned his back to dongwan. dongwan stared into space, a glazed look on his face. h e placed his hand over his chest, where his heart was shattering to pieces.

Chapter 68

Ring ring. Ring ring.

Soo yung fumbled through her bag and pulled out her cell phone. She took it out and flipped it open. "hello?"

"whoa, who's this? Why do you have junjin's phone?" a guy's voice said.

"junjin? What are you talking about, this is my phone," soo yung said.

There was a lil noise in the background and then the voice returned. "oh, hahaha. I'm stupid. I think I called the wrong number. This is soo yung, right? It's me, andy."

"andy? Oh hey, wussup!"

"oh gosh, you have no idea what's UP now. I just found out the biggest news ever today. Kei and eric are moving to tokyo tomorrow!"

soo yung's eyes immediately grew twice its size and she nearly dropped her cell phone. "WHAT!"

"exactly my reaction! That's why I'm trying to call junjin now to find out when the flight is, but I think I accidentally called your phone instead….oh I know why. Cuz you two have the same first 3 numbers for your cells…"

"oh my gosh…oh my gosh…" soo yung repeated in disbelief.

"anywayz, I gotta go. I have to get a hold of junjin. I don't think he's too happy about the news. Gotta talk to the poor guy. Later soo yung!"

click.

Soo yung slowly closed her phone, a dazed look still lingering on her face.

Minwoo and hyesung looked at soo yung with confused and curious looks on their faces.

"what's wrong babe?" minwoo asked. "what was that loud outburst for?"

soo yung slowly raised her eyes to minwoo and hyesung, her mouth still agape. She blinked a few times and finally spoke.

"kei…and eric…are moving…to tokyo…tomorrow…"

minwoo's and hyesung's eyes simultaneously widened.

"what? Are you for real soo yung? You're pulling my leg. Tokyo? Why are they going to tokyo? What the heck are they going to do there?" minwoo asked.

Soo yung shook her head. "I have no idea. But andy just accidentally called my phone and he told me that eric and kei are going to move to tokyo…tomorrow."

"no way…" minwoo said.

"I know…this is really hard to believe," soo yung said. Soo yung and minwoo both looked at each other uneasily. They then shifted their gazes to hyesung, who was sitting in his wheelchair and staring before him with stern and serious eyes.

soo yung looked at hyesung with worried eyes. "hye-hyesung? Are you oki?"

hyesung continued to stare before him. "never been better."

"are you…sure…you're oki?" soo yung cautiously asked.

"…of course I'm oki. Kei and eric can move to tokyo, get married and have a houseful of kids FOR ALL I CARE!" hyesung began to yell.

"hyesun—" soo yung started to say.

"I'm tired, I wanna go to sleep!" hyesung cried. He maneuvered the wheelchair over to the bed and started to climb onto the bed. Minwoo and soo yung walked over to help him, but hyesung swatted their hands away. he crawled onto the bed and threw the covers over himself.

"get out, I want to be by myself now!" hyesung barked.

Soo yung and minwoo exchanged glances, and then minwoo took soo yung by the arm and led her out of the room. They closed the door behind them

"minwoo…" soo yung started to say.

Minwoo raised his finger to his lips and motioned soo yung to not say anymore. "it may be for the best. For hyesung to get over kei…"

Eric and kei entered the apartment again and found junjin waiting for them in the living room. Kei made an unconscious step behind eric, shielding herself from junjin.

Junjin stared at the floor. "when's the flight?" junjin simply asked.

Eric and kei stood in silence, looking back at junjin. Junjin slowly raised his hand, which was holding the cordless phone.

"andy's on the phone. He wants to know the time of the flight to see you guys off," junjin said in a soft voice.

"…12 noon," eric simply stated.

Junjin slowly brought the phone to his ear and repeated eric's answer. he listened to the receiver for a few seconds and then clicked it off. He looked back up to eric and kei.

Kei gulped and looked at junjin with scared eyes.

Junjin looked at kei with sad eyes. he sighed and looked back down at the floor. He dug his hands into his pockets.

"i…I know that things here have been…bad…and I understand why you guys are leaving. I mean, I was the one to want you guys to leave…and…and I guess I really can't stop you….looks like…looks like you guys have already made up your minds…so…can't really stop you…just…just say…goodbye…" junjin trailed off.

Kei walked out from behind eric and stepped up to junjin. Her eyes began to moisten and her lips began to quiver. "junjin…"

"kei…" junjin looked into kei's eyes, a swirl of emotion within his dark brown eyes. "you know…you may not look like a kim heesun or anyone, but in my eyes you're prettier than kim heesun because of you being you…you've made yourself so beautiful in my eyes, and obviously in everyone else's eyes…" he briefly looked up at eric and then returned his gaze to kei. "you've showed me that beauty is not only skin deep…I will now not just limit myself to girls that appear beautiful, but those that are beautiful." He leaned over, kissed kei on the cheek and gave her a long hug. "I will miss you, kei," he whispered in her ear.

Kei let out a wavy sigh and looked at eric.

Eric stared back at kei. He shook his head. "you don't have to go," he mouthed to her.

Kei stared into eric's eyes and shook her head. She wrapped her arms around junjin and nestled her head against his shoulder.

"I'll miss you too, junjin…" she whispered back to junjin.

the door opened. His eyes widened.

"soo yung? Minwoo?" andy asked, surprised.

"andy, what's this about kei and eric moving?" soo yung said.

"oh…yeah…yeah, they're going to tokyo…" andy said.

"what? Why? Tokyo?" soo yung asked again, still in disbelief.

"it's so sudden, huh? I couldn't believe it myself," andy said.

Soo yung looked behind andy and then leaned in closer to andy. "andy, does… does he, know?"

Andy gave soo yung a confused look. "does who know?" he asked.

Soo yung nodded to inside andy's room. "does he know?" she repeated softly.

Andy still had a confused look. "who are you talking about?"

Soo yung grew frustrated. "does dongwan know?" she asked again in a hushed whisper.

"does who know?" andy asked, still not hearing soo yung clearly.

Minwoo rolled his eyes. "does DONGWAN know," he said loud and clearly.

Soo yung looked at minwoo with wide eyes. "minwoo!"

"oh, dongwan! yeah!" andy said, his eyes lighting up at finding out who it was.

"andy, don't be so lou—"

"hi soo yung. Hi minwoo," dongwan said, appearing next to andy. He had a very rugged and tired look on his face.

Soo yung looked at dongwan with slightly startled and pitying eyes.

Dongwan…poor dongwan…how sad he must be…

"dongwan…um…" soo yung started to say.

Dongwan cleared his throat. "are you guys here about eric and kei?"

soo yung looked up at dongwan with wide and guilty eyes. she gazed downwards and shifted her weight uncomfortably. "well…uh…"

"did you guys want to go with us to send them off? They leave at 12 noon tomorrow."

Both Soo yung and minwoo lifted their eyes up to dongwan. "12 noon?" they both simultaneously said.

Andy nodded. "I just called junjin about it. That's what he told us."

Soo yung looked at minwoo with worried eyes.

Kei's really leaving… she thought sadly. She then returned her gaze to dongwan. she spotted the overwhelming sadness on dongwan's face, regardless of how he tried to act as if nothing was happening.

Dongwan ignored the pity coming from soo yung's eyes. "so, how about it? Wanna go with us?"

Soo yung's eyes saddened even more. "dongwan…"

"we'll go," minwoo replied. "we'll go."

Dongwan nodded. "um, I'll pick you guys up at 10:30 tomorrow morning then."

Soo yung looked at dongwan. "are you sure, dongwan?"

Dongwan looked at soo yung and nodded. "I'm oki, soo yung. I know what you're thinking, but…but I'm…I'm oki…"

Soo yung continued to look at dongwan with sympathetic eyes.

Dongwan looked away. "I'm…I'm gonna go sleep now. I'll see you guys tomorrow." And with that he disappeared into the room.

Andy watched dongwan get into his bed and throw the covers over himself. Andy then turned to soo yung and minwoo and sighed.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, oki? I'm going too…"

soo yung and minwoo nodded. "see you, andy," they both said. And with that, andy closed the door, leaving soo yung and minwoo standing in the hallway.

Soo yung turned and faced minwoo. They both looked at each other sadly, and then turned and walked down the hallway.

Hyesung stared out the window, the dusk from outside radiating through the window and leaving an orangish glow on his face. he sat in motionless in his wheelchair, an emotionless expression upon his face. he then turned his head to his bedside. He spotted two objects upon the bedside dresser: a notepad with the hospital logo on it, and a pencil. He slowly reached for his wheels and maneuvered himself over to the dresser. He picked up the notepad and pencil. After intensively staring at the pad with a scrutinzing look, he started to scribble furiously on the pad…

Ring ring. Ring ring.

Kei looked around and saw that neither eric nor junjin were giong to pick up the phone. She looked at the phone. She didn't want to answer the phone either.

Beep. "hey, it's eric. leave a message," the answering machine recording said.

Beep.

Silence.

"hello? Um, hi, it's, uh, it's dongwan."

kei's eyes widened. Dongwan?

"yeah, I heard the news. Well, what can I say? It's, uh, quite a surprise, that's for sure." Silene. "look, I just wanted to…wait, never mind. I, uh, never mind. This is stupid. Sorry I called."

Click.

Kei stared at the answering machine, now with a blinking light to indicate a new message, with sad eyes.

Dongwan…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry… kei then walked over and picked up the phone…

Ring ring. Ring ring.

Dongwan turned and looked at the phone ringing.

Kei?

He reached over and picked up the phone.

"hello?"

"hey dongwan, it's andy."

Dongwan let out a sigh. "hey andy."

"hey, when are we leaving for the airport tomorrow?"

"…I was thinking of going at 11. Oki?"

"aite, just wanna make sure. I'll be back later, oki?"

"aite." Dongwan then hung up the phone.

Ring ring.

Dongwan picked up the phone again. "forget something?"

There was a silence on the other end.

"andy? Are you there?" dongwan asked.

There was still a silence, and dongwan started to pull the phone away from his ear..

"…no…it's not andy…" a soft female voice said.

Dongwan stopped and drew in a breath.

Kei… he placed the phone back to his ear.

"dongwan, it's kei," kei said softly.

Dongwan didn't respond.

A deep breath could be heard over the phone. "I, uh, I heard your message," kei timidly said.

"I'm…glad…you…did…"

"dongwan…i…I just want you to know that…that…I never wanted to hurt you. you've done so much for me…I would never want to intentionally hurt you…." kei stuttered.

"kei…"

"you deserve so much better. You really do. You don't deserve to be with someone like me, when…when…when i…love…someone…else…" kei choked out.

Dongwan bit his lip and blinked his tears away. "please…don't say that, kei…"

Silence.

Kei then spoke again. "I'm…I'm glad that you're…coming…tomorrow…"

This time, the tear escaped dongwan's eye and silently made its way down his cheek.

"…of course. I have to at least see you one last time, right?"

kei noticed the wavy voice. She rubbed at her eyes that were itching to spill with tears. "…same here…well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"…right…"

"I, um, I have to go now. bye dongwan."

"…bye…kei."

They both slowly hung up the phone.

Dongwan wiped away the fallen tear and took in a deep breath. He ran his hand through his hair and stared up at the ceiling above him.

"…kei…why can't you understand…that you're too special to me to just let go as easily as you expect me to…it's hard…too hard…but…if you want me to…if it'll make you happy…"

minwoo slowly opened the door and let himself in quietly into hyesung's room. It was 11pm, but much to minwoo's surprise, hyesung was still sitting in his wheelchair, and he was positioned next to the window. The moonlight from outside was reflecting its light upon hyesung's light face. minwoo slowly walked over to hyesung's side.

They remained in silence as they stared out the window. A grassy area could be seen outside, the green color now a dark turquoise in the dark of the night. The streetlights in the distance emitted a faint glow against the darkness of the night.

"last night here. Aren't you excited?" minwoo asked.

Hyesung continued his gaze out the window. He let out a soft sigh.

"you never realize the freedom a person can have until that freedom is taken away from him. The freedom to roam…to leave one's room or home whenever he wants, even if it's just to walk down to the corner of the block…and…and the freedom…to walk…"

minwoo turned and glanced down at hyesung's hand, which was making its way towards the bad knee. Minwoo then looked back out the window. "you're being released in the morning, right? Want to go to the airport tomorrow? Kei and eric's flight is at 12 noon."

Hyesung didn't answer. he steadily gazed out the glass, his eyes motionless. Not even a blink.

"well, you want to or not, hyesung? I think you should…"

"…"

"…look, hyesung. I know that you have feelings for kei, and her being with eric is, well, not a good thing, them going to tokyo being even worse. But…dongwan feels the exact way you do, yet he's still willing to go see her one last time. I think you should too."

Hyesung lowered his gaze from the window and stared at his hands. He shook his head.

"I don't want to go."

Minwoo turned to hyesung. "you sure?"

Hyesung nodded. He then picked up the folded piece of paper he had in his lap. He held it up to minwoo. Minwoo looked at the paper curiously.

Hyesung raised his eyes up to minwoo, revealing a pair of stony eyes. "give this to kei."

Minwoo looked at hyesung. Hyesung's emotionless eyes surprised minwoo. Minwoo thought that hyesung would have gotten past everything and want to go see kei. Minwoo sighed. He then looked down at the note and then took it from hyesung.

"one more thing…" hyesung said.

Minwoo looked up at hyesung again.

Hyesung lowered his eyes and stared off to space at no particular object. "back in the room, in my desk, bottom drawer…in the back, there is a white notebook. I want you to give this note and that notebook to kei."

Minwoo stared at hyesung. "…you sure you don't want to give them to her yourself?"

Hyesung shook his head.

"…I don't think I can bear to face her…"

chapter 69

the next morning…

9:46am. Kei rolled and carried the luggage from the house while eric took the luggage from kei and stuffed them into the trunk of his car. Kei handed eric the last bag and eric gingerly took it from kei. Kei then turned around and looked towards the open apartment door. Junjin stood inside, talking on the phone to take care of legal matters with the car and the apartment. Kei looked sadly at junjin.

Eric slammed the trunk door closed and looked up. he spotted kei looking back at the apartment.

"you know, it's not too late to stay," eric said.

Kei turned around and looked at eric. she shook her head. "I made up my mind. I can't stay."

Eric sighed. He placed his hand on kei's shoulder. "you sure?"

Kei nodded.

Just then, junjin hung up the phone. He made a few scribbles on the pad he had before and then he tossed the pen onto the table. He then stood straight and headed out the apartment. He approached both kei and eric.

"ready to go, you guys?"

kei and eric nodded.

"here," junjin said, taking the keys from eric. "I'll drive." He then calmly walked to the driver's side and got into the car.

Kei looked at eric. eric nodded over to the passenger side. Kei then slowly made her way to the passenger's side and let herself into the car. Eric climbed into the backseat of the car.

They took off.

Knock knock.

Minwoo opened the door and found soo yung on the other side. Soo yung looked up at minwoo with sad eyes. minwoo sighed.

"it does not look like it'll be a happy day," minwoo said.

Soo yung sighed. "to find out that one of your closest friends is going to move to a different country is not exactly a 'lighten my day' kinda thing." Soo yung looked into the room. "where's hyesung? Sleeping?"

Minwoo shook his head. "actually…"

soo yung looked at minwoo with inquiring eyes. "actually what?"

"he said that he didn't want to go see kei. He wanted to go straight to the company."

Soo yung's eyes widened. "are you serious? He's not even going to send her off?"

Minwoo shook his head.

"well, I'm gonna go pull his lazy butt out of bed and—" soo yung began to say as she started walking into the room.

"it's no use," minwoo said, taking her by the arm to stop her.

soo yung looked up at minwoo. "why?"

"cuz he's not even in the room."

Soo yung's eyes widened again. she ran over to hyesung's bed and pulled the covers off. His bed was empty. Soo yung looked up at minwoo.

"does he really hate her that much?"

minwoo looked at the notebook and note that sat on his desk.

"I seriously don't know now…"

eric, kei, and junjin walked away from the metal detectors and made their way towards the gate.

Eric looked at his watch. "we still have some time before we board. Did you want something to eat?" eric asked kei.

Kei shook her head. "I'm fine."

Eric shook his head. "I'll go get you a sandwich. You're gonna get hungry. You haven't eaten all morning." Eric looked up at junjin.

Junjin shook his head. "I'm cool."

"I'll meet you guys at the gate." Eric then walked away to the food counter.

"he treats you well, doesn't he?" junjin remarked softly.

Kei looked away and didn't answer.

They walked over to the gate. Junjin set the bag he was carrying down and sat down. Kei set the dolly-luggage before her and sat down, still carrying the other carry-on with her other arm.

They sat as they listened to the various other noises of the bustling in the airport.

Junjin let out a loud sigh. "you guys are really leaving."

Kei lowered her head even more.

"it seems like it was only yesterday when we bumped into you at the arcade." Junjin let out a small laugh and shook his head. "gosh…who woulda guessed that things would become like this…" junjin then raised his head and looked at kei. "what do you think of all this?"

kei kept her stare at her hands, protectively holding onto the bag she carried. She took in a deep breath.

"i…I think it was the happiest days of my life…"

confusion came over junjin's eyes. "…it…it was?"

kei nodded her head. "ever since I moved in with you and eric…I felt at ease…I felt good about myself…I felt…happy…you…eric…dongwan…andy…" kei lifted her head to junjin. "you guys made me experience the most happiness I've ever had. And…I really…really will miss you, junjin…" a tear escaped kei's eye.

Junjin gulped. He reached up and wiped kei's tear away with his thumb. "don't cry, kei. You said we all made you happy, right? Then don't cry."

Kei nodded her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry."

"I'll miss you too," junjin said. "It'll be lonely without you and eric in the place. I mean, andy would be a great apartment-mate and all, but gosh, the dude does not cook."

Kei's eyes widened. "andy's moving in?"

Junjin nodded. "he can't live in the dorms after this summer, so he asked to move in with me."

Kei gave a small smile. "that's good." She sighed. "look junjin. Eric mentioned that we may be only leaving for a few months, so this really isn't a forever goodbye thing. We will come back."

"really?"

"yeah…but I guess it'll be a full apartment when we come back, with andy in the apartment and all. andy…I'll miss him too…his silliness…"

"aww, you're gonna miss me kei? How sweet…I think I'm gonna cry now…"

junjin and kei looked up and found andy and dongwan standing before them. Andy had a grin on his face while dongwan stood behind andy, an emotionless expression on his face.

"andy! Dongwan! You guys came!" kei said happily.

"we're not the only ones," andy said. "look."

Kei looked behind andy and dongwan and saw two more people walk her way. Her eyes widened.

"minwoo…soo yung…"

minwoo and soo yung approached the group. Kei stood up as they reached the group. Soo yung walked up to kei and hugged kei.

"I can't believe you're leaving," soo yung said.

Kei closed her eyes. I can't believe it either…

Soo yung let go and stepped back a step. minwoo came up and stood before kei. He looked at kei in the eyes.

"you know, you really like this disappearing without a trace thing. First it was in high school, now you're leaving for tokyo without telling anyone. You gotta break this habit of yours."

Kei set her lips in a tight smile. She walked up to minwoo and hugged him. "I'm sorry, minwoo. But just know that this time I'm not running away from you." kei pulled away.

Minwoo looked at kei with inquisitive eyes. "you mean you were running away from me before?"

Kei smiled. She then shook her head. "I'll miss you guys. I really will."

"are you going to come back at least?" minwoo said.

"I may in december."

"good. You better."

Kei smiled. Her eyes then began to look around.

Minwoo spotted kei looking around. Minwoo leant in close and whispered in kei's ear.

"he's not here. He couldn't make it." Minwoo then stepped away.

kei looked at minwoo. She shook her head. "I wasn't…"

minwoo brought his finger to his lips. "it's oki. Here, these are for you."

kei looked down and saw that minwoo was holding a notebook out to her.

"what's this?" kei asked.

"this is for you. hyesung told me to give this to you."

kei looked up at minwoo. "hyesung?"

"yeah. He told me to give you this. Take it."

Kei looked down at the white notebook and slowly took it from minwoo. She looked up at minwoo. "th…thank…you…"

"ATTENTION. FLIGHT 176— TOKYO, JAPAN—IS NOW BOARDING. PASSENGERS OF ALL CLASSES PLEASE COME TO GATE 17A…"

eric came up to the group, holding 2 bottles of water and a sandwich. "that's us, kei. Let's go."

Kei then turned to the whole group. She scanned across the faces with her sad eyes.

"good bye, everybody," she said. Her eyes stopped on dongwan. dongwan looked back at kei with similarly sad eyes.

kei bit her lip and blinked her tears back into her eyes. stay strong, kei. She walked up at dongwan and wrapped her arms around dongwan.

"goodbye, dongwan. I'm sorry for what I've done to you, but what you've done for me…I will always remember as the happy memories…" kei whispered in dongwan's ear.

Dongwan placed his arms around kei. "I'll miss you, kei. Please come back in december. I…" dongwan cut himself off. He sighed and then let go of kei. He held her by the arms and looked at her dead in the eye. "you take care of yourself, oki?"

Kei nodded. "…i…will…" she said softly.

"yeah…you better take good care of her, eric, or I will fly over to tokyo to behead you and have it for dinner," junjin threatened. "If I don't do it, everyone else here will."

Eric smiled and nodded. "sure, everyone comes to send kei off, but no one cares for me."

"cuz you're stealing our friend away from us!" soo yung said, a smile playing upon her lips.

Eric tucked the two water bottles under his arm and picked up the two carry-on bags in his free hand. "come on, kei, we gotta go now."

Kei nodded. She walked over and took the dolly-luggage. She took one last long look at her friends that stood before.

"bye everyone. I'll miss all of you guys."

She then slowly followed eric to the gate. Eric handed his boarding pass to the attendant and walked in. kei handed her boarding pass to the attendant at the gate, and the attendant accepted it. She looked back at the group again. she then turned and disappeared into the plane.

Junjin, andy, and dongwan slowly started to leave. Soo yung and minwoo remained in their spots.

"she's really gone," soo yung said.

"yeah…" minwoo agreed.

And the stupid fool didn't get to see her for the last time…

Off to the distance, behind a pillar…

He gripped onto the armrests tightly until his knuckles turned white. The urge to get up and run to the closing gate door was overpowering, but he contained himself. He shut his eyes tight and grimaced.

She's gone…she's really gone…and I wanted to go out to her so badly, to give her one last hug like everyone else…but… he gripped onto the armrest even harder. I can't let her see me like this…no…but…but…she's gone now…

Tears crept out of his tightly squeezed eyes. he then relaxed and opened them. He looked towards the closed gate now.

Goodbye…

He grabbed hold of the wheels on both sides and began to wheel himself away.

Kei and eric found their seats in the airplane. Eric started to stuff their carry-ons into the overhead loft while kei sat down in her seat next to the window. She looked at the white notebook that she held in her hands.

"this is for you. hyesung told me to give this to you."

kei opened the white notebook and found the contents to be of a scribbled manuscript. Her eyes widened.

This is…hyesung's journal?

hahaha, this is weird. I'm starting a journal. I don't know…I guess…I hear it's a good idea, a way to vent and stuff. Plus, I keep seeing keikei write in her diary all the time. Geez. The things she writes in her diary. It's so…depressing…

kei's eyes widened. He…he…he's read my diary? H…how? How could he?

Anywayz, I just walked keikei to the library. Mmm…haha, the poor girl must be so confused now. I was actually NICE to her. she must be thinking, "dang, what was he smoking?" I don't know. Why do I act so mean to her? I don't know why myself. It just…happens. Mebbe it's the fact that, well, that I don't know HOW to act around her. I mean, yeah, she would probably rather me be nice to her than to say the things that I do about her. but…I guess I just subconsciously act differently around her. I mean, most girls usually don't let me say the things that I do to kei. They would probably claw me or something. But somehow, keikei doesn't do anything. In fact, she just takes it, which makes me feel bad, guilty…and it makes me admire her at the same time. She has a tolerance and patience that I've never seen before. I don't know. She's…different. Would it be due to her experience in high school with minwoo and yoojin? I don't think it's cuz of whatever therapy or rehab she received after she moved, cuz she seemed to be all patient and everything before too. I dunno…I know it's bad that I read her diary and all and I shouldn't have, but…reading it, reading about her past…it's made me, I dunno… understand appreciate her for what she is? I dunno…hopefully she won't find out…oi, it's cold now. man, how long is she going to stay in the library?

Kei shivered as she read the first entry. She recalled back to the incident at the library and felt her heart jump.

Hyesung… she held the diary against her chest and placed her chin on the edge. She closed her eyes and tears crept out from underneath the eyelids. Hyesung…

Kei felt something slip from the book, hit her arm and fall to the ground. She opened her eyes and saw that a folded piece of paper fell to the ground. She wiped her tears, reached down and picked it up. she examined the folded piece of paper. It was folded like how she folded notes that she gave to yoojin back when she was in high school. Slowly, kei unfolded the paper.

She slowly read its contents…and a flood of tears flowed out of her eyes.

Chapter 70

Kei

I'm sorry that I could not send you off to tokyo. No matter how much I want to see your beautiful eyes one last time, I feel that I would not be able to bear facing you. that's why I'm giving you this notebook, which is actually my journal that I've kept for a while. You can see when you read it if you haven't already that I have a secret, that I have read your diary. I'm sorry that I did, cuz I know it is wrong for me to do…but…I am also grateful for reading it, for it is actually because of your diary that I began to appreciate you for the person you were, and that appreciation grew to a very strong feeling. Kei…whether you realize it or not…despite all the hostility and bitterness I had showed to you before in the past…I have grown to love you… I know that you're now with eric, and I shouldn't be saying this stuff. I'm very heartbroken that the one to capture your heart is not me, but considering how I treated you before, there's no question why I didn't, and I blame myself for it. But…I can't help but tell you how I feel about you, how I truly feel…

I have been working on a song for a long time now…it is only until now that I am able to finish it…it's a very special song to me…and I want to share it with you…

Winter has passed and spring must've come

For a mysterious bud has started to blossom

And that radiant bud is you

Ever since I

Learned of the secrets that you kept inside

The hidden treasure has opened my eyes

And a feeling within takes over me

A feeling that only sees you

So I say things that are untrue

Things that always end up hurting you

Oh please forgive me, for causing you pain

Your hurt eyes drive me insane

But I continue this silly front

Afraid to show my true emotions

I ask myself will there be a day

I show my love the proper way

Before I regret

Sitting here alone in the dark

Confusion and anguish fill my heart

Do you know all that you do to me?

Release me.

From the first time I discovered your eyes

It is now that I begin to realize

The power they have on me

Now I can see

Even though you're not here right by my side

You are my soul, my heart, my light

From the spark in your eyes, the kiss that we shared

I feel your love for me near

But how come you're still not here with me?

Is this our eternal destiny?

Is it fate that I can't be with you

Oh please tell me what I am to do

To show you my love

But you found another cuz I made no move

I should give up, but I still feel the need to prove

How much I need you, I can't let you go

But my feelings are something I rarely ever show

So I say things that are untrue

Things that always end up hurting you

Oh please forgive me, for causing you pain

Your hurt eyes drive me insane

But I continue this silly front

Afraid to show my true emotions

I ask myself will there be a day

I show my love the proper way

Even though you're not here right by my side

You are my soul, my heart, my light

From the spark in your eyes, the kiss that we shared

I feel your love for me near

But how come you're still not here with me?

Is this our eternal destiny?

Is it fate that I can't be with you

Oh please tell me what I am to do

To show you my love

I thought you loved me and I loved you

So why aren't we as one but as two?

Why do we play this game, this game of love?

in the game of love…

By : Unknown 


End file.
